Between
by letsdosomeliving
Summary: When Tori finds herself being trapped in a place between life and death, it almost seems impossible for her to ever return to her normal life again. But when Jade West steps into the picture, she might just get another shot at life.
1. Chapter 1

_A/N: This idea popped into my head when I was writing "Still Here" for my Oneshot Collection and it just didn't want to get out of my head. Also it reminded me of the movie "Just like Heaven". It has its similarities but it doesn't have the same plot. But man, I love that movie._

_**Disclaimer: I don't own a thing.**_

* * *

_**Chapter 1**_

"_Trina, can you please hurry?" _

"_God, why are you so annoying?"_

_Tori rolls her eyes and turns from the stairway to her aunt, the woman smiling in amusement at the yelled banter between her two nieces. "If you want to, you two can stay the night," she offers but Tori declines with a shake of her head. "No, we better get home. I still have to do a couple of things before I start at my new school next week." The brunette smiles at her aunt. "But thanks for the offer. And for the dinner."_

"_Anytime."_

_Both of their heads snap to the stairway when Trina loudly stomps down into the hallway and joins her aunt and sister. "We can go now," she tells Tori with a fake smile, which just brings Tori to roll her eyes at her older sister. They give their aunt a hug and promise to visit her again soon, before they get into Trina's car, barely escaping the rain that starts to fall from the sky. They mostly ride in comfortable silence, other than when they argue over which radio station they should listen to._

"_The rain is getting pretty heavy," Trina comments when they stop at a red stoplight. Tori nods, watching as the windshield wipers increase in pace, the squeaking of them mixed with the steady rhythm of the rain pelting down on the car slightly starting to annoy her. The green light of the stoplight lights up and Trina slowly pushes down the gas pedal. Not really being in the mood to talk to her sister, Tori rests her head against the headrest and turns to look out of the passenger side's window, starting to smile when she thinks about next week, small butterflies erupting in her stomach. Hollywood Arts is one of the best performing arts schools and Tori still can't really grasp the fact that she passed her audition. The excitement of being able to do what she loves on a daily basis almost crushes all the nervousness in her body, to the point where she doesn't even think she's nervous at all. _

"_Oh man," Trina mumbles, slightly leaning forward in her seat. Tori turns towards her sister with furrowed eyebrows. "What's wrong?"_

"_Nothing. Just can't see that good."_

_And really, when Tori turned her head to look to the front she barely could see anything through the heavy rain pounding against the window. A weird feeling, maybe even fear, starts to settle in her stomach and Tori sits up straight, her hands gripping her seat. "Maybe we should pull over and wait for the rain to calm down."_

_She doesn't really know why her voice comes out almost shaky but Trina seems to notice it, quickly glancing Tori's way and nodding her head. "Yeah… we probably should."_

_But just as she's about to turn the wheel to the right, Trina's eyes fall onto bright headlights on the other side of the road swaying back and forth, and before she can comprehend it, it happens._

"_Oh God."_

Tori frowns, snapping out of her flashback. An entire year had passed since the accident but Tori's memories of it still are as fresh as they can be. She remembers every little moment, every feeling, every noise, every smell and she doesn't think she will ever forget anything of it. A little boy jumps up onto the bench she's sitting on, his mouth smeared with chocolate ice cream and Tori smiles at the happy expression that settles on his face when he resumes licking at the ice cream cone in his hand. A flash of black catches Tori's eyes and she looks up from the boy just in time to see the girl walk past her.

She'd been waiting for her.

A small smile instantly appears on Tori's lips as she gets up to follow the dark haired girl to the place she always goes when she's here. The large oak tree stands high in a slightly secluded area of the park and the girl stops, settling down in the shadows the tree gives. Tori smiles as she watches her, she herself taking a seat on the grass not too far away from the other girl, but not too close so that she would actually be able to catch her spying on her. She's dressed in all black once again, her notebook with her and pen poised above the paper, ready to write down every thought she has. But just like every other time before, the girl hesitates, her bottom lip tightly captured between her teeth and her forehead creasing. Tori's smile replaces itself with a frown as the girl sighs deeply and rests her head against the trunk of the tree, her eyes closing.

Tori had been watching her for quite a while, almost two weeks now. She had been shocked when she ran into her at Hollywood Arts, her eyes shooting daggers at her and her sharp tongue telling her to stop looking at her. The girl – her name is Jade West, Tori had long ago learned – had seen her, she had _talked _to her and being in Tori's situation, this was a huge surprise. Jade West could be the key to everything, she could be the solution. So Tori had made sure to follow her around and more than once did Jade see her, which only spurred her on more. She studied her life, she tried if Jade's friends would see her too, but just like everyone else, they didn't acknowledge her. But Jade did. And Tori still isn't sure _why._ Why her, why not somebody else. But she didn't care, as long as she had a chance to get her life back, it just didn't matter.

Jade comes to this park almost three times a week to write. What she's writing, Tori isn't really sure but lately the girl mostly left with a blank paper and an angry expression. Tori follows her home every time, being really careful not to be seen by Jade. She's mostly home alone, Tori notices, her dad, a tall man who seems to always wear a suit, mostly coming back pretty late. Strangely, Tori never saw Jade's mom and she couldn't figure out what's the deal with her either. But she doesn't really think it's that important.

Sometimes a red head would come over, whose name is Cat and actually is Jade's best friend, which Tori finds hard to believe. Tori spent a lot of time observing not only Jade, but also her friends and Cat and Jade were just so different from each other that Tori didn't think they would get along all that well. But seeing them interact with each other at school proved the brunette wrong.

Then there was Andre, a dark skinned boy with dreads, who came by her house twice since Tori started to watch Jade. Apparently they were pretty good friends, or even more than that. Both times he was at Jade's, he arrived in the early afternoon and only left shortly before midnight. Of course it wasn't Tori's place to make assumptions or anything, but she couldn't help but be a little curious, seeing as Jade used to date Andre's best friend, a handsome boy with awesome hair. His name is… Buck or… no! Beck! His name is Beck and Tori doesn't really know how long they dated, but they are mostly on good terms as it seems. And lastly there's a curly haired boy with glasses, Robbie who, weirdly enough, carries a puppet around with himself. It's a pretty versatile group of friends, at least in Tori's opinion.

And now, as she watches Jade sigh again, pack up her things and slowly get up, Tori knows it's time to make herself known to the girl. She just doesn't exactly know how yet…

**X.x.X**

Jade almost punches the door in frustration when her keys fall out of her hands. A scowl making its way onto her face, she bends down, quickly proceeding to put it into the keyhole. The door to her house clicks open and as usual, Jade is greeted by silence. After kicking the door shut behind her, Jade trudges up the stairs, stopping in front of the closed door to her father's office. A faint clacking can be heard and Jade can picture her dad sitting at his desk, his fingers tapping away on the keyboard of his laptop and his eyes fixed on the screen. For a short moment she contemplates saying hello to him, just telling him that she's home now and her hand starts to raise, hovering over the door handle.

_He won't care, so why bother? _

Her hand slowly falls to her side before she continues her way to her room. Closing the door behind her, kicking her boots off and letting herself fall back onto her bed, Jade sighs deeply and closes her eyes. This is just _not _her day. Not her day, not her week, probably not her month. She's been trying for almost 3 weeks now to write something new, a short story, a play, a poem, _anything_. But her brain seemed to shut down whenever she took a hold of a pen. Almost angry, Jade sits up and quickly snatches her notebook and a pen out of her bag. It just _has_ to work sometime, right? She couldn't give up. But after almost ten minutes of blankly staring ahead, Jade still doesn't have any clue what she could write. The pen makes a steady drumming noise against the paper as Jade's hand quickly moves it back and forth. She sighs aggravated when nothing worth to write down comes to her mind and she proceeds to chuck her notebook and pen to the foot of the bed.

Maybe getting some food into her stomach would plant some ideas in her head.

**X.x.X**

"_But Jade, what am I supposed to do now?"_

A tired sigh escapes Jade's lips as she puts her empty plate in the dishwasher. "I don't know. And if I'm completely honest I seriously don't care."

Cat gasps loudly. _"How can you say that? Mr. Longneck was always nice to you! He might die!"_

"Okay, first of all: It's a _stuffed animal_! Okay? And secondly: It's just a rip in the fabric. Just give it to your mom so she can sew it back together."

"_That's a good idea! I will do that!"_ She lets out a soft giggle and Jade rolls her eyes. _"Thank you. I will call you when my mom's done with it! You know, let you know that he's okay."_

"Yeah, don't bother," she mumbles and disconnects the call without saying goodbye. Sometimes she really wonders how in the world it's possible for her and Cat to be best friends. That girl is just so… weird sometimes, so childish and naïve. But oh well, without Cat, her life would definitely lack something. She shakes her head at her best friend and slowly walks back to her room. Her hand pushes down the door handle and her heart nearly stops when her eyes fall onto a girl sitting on the edge of her bed.

"Holy shit!"

Tori quickly jumps to her feet and holds her hands up. "_Don't _freak out."

Jade's eyes widen, her heart hammering in her chest from the shock of seeing someone sitting in her room. "Don't freak out?! Who the hell are you? What are you doing in my house?"

The brunette opens her mouth but Jade doesn't give her any chance to answer, narrowing her eyes at the intruder. "Are you trying to steal something?"

It's Tori's turn to widen her eyes. "N-no! I'm not a thief!"

"Well, I'm going to call the police anyways," Jade tells her with a glare and turns around to retrieve her phone from the bed. She quickly punches in the three digits that would connect her with the police and hears the brunette behind her sigh tiredly.

"They'll just think you're crazy when they get here, Jade."

"You broke into a house! Why would they think-" Her finger freezes over the green button when she realizes that the stranger had called her by her name. Her eyes narrowed again, Jade turns back around to face the other girl. "How do you know my name?"

"Listen, I-"

"Are you a freaking stalker?"

"No, of course not!"

"Wait…" Jade takes a step closer, her eyes scrutinizing Tori's features. "I know you. You've been staring at me at school, following me around and chiz! You _are _a stalker!"

"If you'd just let me explain, I-"

"_Jade?"_

Tori is interrupted again, this time by a knock and a deep voice filtering through Jade's door. Both pairs of eyes snap over to look at the dark wood separating the room from the hallway before the girls turn back to face each other. Tori raises her eyebrows and crosses her arms, clearly unimpressed, when Jade smirks and shouts for her dad to come in. The door opens and Jade's dad sticks his head in. "I just wanted to tell you that they need me at the office. I left some money on the kitchen counter for dinner."

"Well, before you leave," Jade says before he can disappear again, shooting a glare at the other girl, "Could you tell me what _that _is doing here?" Jade's arm motions to Tori, ignoring the way she narrows her brown eyes. "Did you let her in?"

Michael's eyebrows knit together in confusion and he slowly steps into the room to see what his daughter is talking about. His eyes move to the spot Jade pointed to, settling on a picture of his daughter and her best friend, and his confusion only increases. "What? The… the picture?"

Jade looks at her father as if he lost his mind as he points his finger to the framed picture on her dresser with an uncertain expression on his face. "_No_…" Her eyes briefly move to Tori, who calmly watches the scene between father and daughter, then move back to her dad, her eyebrows raised to show him what she was talking about. Michael narrows his eyes and slowly starts to approach Jade, not even acknowledging the strange girl in the slightest. It's like he doesn't even see her and when he walks right through the brunette, Jade's eyes nearly pop out of their holes.

"Whoa," she whispers and takes a step backwards. Jade faintly hears her father's voice asking her if she was okay, but her eyes are steadily trained on the uncomfortably smiling brunette.

"Surprise," she weakly says, her eyebrows raised and the uncomfortable smile still on her face. Jade's eyes quickly snap back to her father. "Did you hear that?"

He looks at her weirdly. "Hear what?"

"Jade, he can't hear me. He doesn't know I'm here."

Jade's eyebrows move down as she looks at the girl. She inhales deeply before pushing the air back out through her mouth in a long breath. "Should I rather… stay home?"

With her lips tightly pressed together, she looks back at her dad, whose eyes flick all over her face in genuine worry. "No… no, I'm fine, just… didn't get much sleep." She nods her head, not only trying to convince her dad but also a little bit herself. "Go to work."

"Okay… if you say so." He stays still for a couple of seconds but then hesitantly walks out of Jade's room, still slightly alarmed at her strange behavior.

As soon as the door closes Tori opens her mouth but Jade quickly holds her hands up, signaling her not to talk. Jade's eyes are fixed on Tori and only when she hears the front door shut and her dad's car left the driveway, does she drop her hands, her eyes closing and a deep sigh leaving her mouth. She massages her forehead and hopes that the girl will be gone when she opens her eyes. But when her eyes flutter back open, she's still there, hesitantly smiling at Jade. _Maybe I should just go to sleep. This is probably just some kind of hallucination or something. She's not here. It's not real._ But the girl in front of her really _looked_ real, she _sounded _real and if her father wouldn't have actually walked right through her, Jade would have believed that she most definitely _is _real.

"Would you let me explain myself now?"

Her voice rings through her ears and Jade realizes that she's been dumbly staring at the brunette for more than just a few seconds. She briefly closes her eyes and shakes her head to try to bring at least _some _sense into this situation. When she reopens her eyes, she lets them travel all over the girl's body, slowly taking a step closer. "Who are you?"

"I'm Tori Vega."

Jade nods, her eyes restlessly flicking across Tori's face. "Tori Vega. Tori Vega, the ghost?"

"I- I'm not a ghost," she stutters, her fingers slowly starting to play with each other.

Jade frowns and locks her eyes with Tori's. "My dad walked through you. I thought that was a clear sign that you weren't human." Tori bites her lip and looks down. "I just didn't think I'm a ghost whisperer now," Jade mumbles and walks over to her bed, sitting down in the same spot Tori sat a little while ago.

"I'm not a ghost," Tori repeats when she looks back up. Jade's eyebrow raises and Tori shakes her head, looking away from the black haired girl. "At least I don't think I am. I know I'm still alive."

She's silent, her eyes looking out of Jade's window. This is just the weirdest thing, Jade thinks. She's talking to a ghost, or… _not_ a ghost. She probably is slowly going crazy. _Hello, mental institution._ She probably should just stop now, do something to clear her head but this is just too crazy. Jade sighs and gets up again, crossing her arms and walking over to Tori. "Okay, well… Let's leave that for later and start with something else. How do you know my name? And what were you doing sitting in my room like a total creep?"

Tori smiles and turns around to face Jade. "You're the only one who can see me, Jade." The girl clad in black raises her eyebrow again and Tori continues. "I've been… like _this_ for over a year now," she pauses and swallows hardly, looking at her feet. "Long story short: I was in a car accident. My sister was driving us back from our aunt and… it was dark and it rained so hard. The windshield wipers could barely keep up and Trina had a hard time seeing the road. There was a car on the other side of the road. It was… swerving and… it spun out of control and it crashed into us."

"I remember that," Jade whispers causing Tori to look back up, "It was all over the news."

Tori nods, a forced smile on her lips. "It was. I don't remember anything anymore. Just that… I opened my eyes and… I got up and then… I was standing in a hospital room. I looked at the bed and… saw myself lying in it."

Jade blinks, trying to comprehend everything Tori had said. She had been doing homework, the TV playing in the background and the news came on, reporting a horrendous crash. The two cars had been completely crumpled, one driver dead on impact. "You… saw yourself? What… what happened to you?"

"I looked fine on the outside. I had a couple of scratches, a deep cut on my forehead. But I had four fractured ribs. My lung almost collapsed and my leg was completely shattered. Apparently, I fell into a coma." Jade listens intently, crossing her arms and leaning on her desk. "I was so confused. I mean, I saw myself lying there and… my parents and Trina were there. She was pretty lucky, no serious injuries. They were crying and I… I tried to make them see me but… they just didn't. No one could see me. Until I met you."

"I was in your school. Hollywood Arts. Hadn't I gotten in the accident I would have attended my first year there. I wanted to look around, see where I would have gone to school and then you were there. You walked through the hallway, looking down at your phone. When you took a sip from your coffee, you glanced up at me and… and you saw me. You told me-"

"-to stop gawking at people."

Tori smiles and nods her head. "Yeah. I was so shocked. I followed you around, tried to find a reason _why _you are able to see me. None of your friends could see me. _No one_ but you. I just… I needed to talk to you. That's why I came here."

Silence falls over the room as soon as Tori finishes her story. Jade nods slowly, shrugging her shoulders. "So you kind of _are _a stalker."

Tori laughs softly. "I guess I am."

"So what do you want from me?"

The brunette takes a deep breath, her eyes looking at the floor for a moment before she meets Jade's eyes again. "I need your help."


	2. Chapter 2

Jade furrows her eyebrows and stands up straight. "How could _I _help you?"

"You are the only one who can see me, Jade. The only one who can talk to me. Maybe you can help me to get back into my body."

Jade lets out a sharp laugh. "And how am I supposed to do that? I can't perform miracles!" She shakes her head and walks away from Tori. What does she expect from her? They don't even know each other, she can't just assume – just because Jade can see her for some reason –that she would be able to help her.

"I know, but… you can see me!" Tori repeats, excitement dripping from her voice as she follows Jade out of her room, down the stairs and into the spacious living room. "There has to be a reason for that! You have to help me! Please!"

Jade whirls around, a scowl on her face. "I don't _have _to do anything." Jade's hard glare causes Tori to step back, her face transforming into a deep frown. The dark girl turns back around, plopping down on the sofa and turning on the TV. She doesn't spare Tori another glance, instead she starts to zap through the channels. A sigh leaves Tori's mouth, her shoulders slightly sagging. She really had hoped that Jade would help her. That she'd be _willing _to. But of course the only person who could see her was a stubborn, mean gank. It's really not fair, this is her only chance, _Jade_ is her only chance. After taking a deep breath, Tori trudges over to the sofa and quietly takes a seat next to Jade.

"Please. Can't you at least try to help me?" Jade's hard eyes meet Tori's pleading ones and to her surprise, she has a hard time denying her anything. With a sigh, Jade turns off the TV, then focuses her eyes back on Tori.

"Sorry. You have to find someone else."

"But _who_?"

Jade gets up, shrugging her shoulders and running a hand through her hair. "I don't know! Go to some psychic or whatever they're called. They'll see you."

"Don't you think I already tried that?" She huffs when Jade starts to walk away from her for the second time that day and quickly gets up to follow her. "I went to a _dozen_ of those people but they just didn't see me, they didn't hear me, they just didn't know I was in the room with them! _You _are the only one, Jade! I don't know why but there's _no one else_! So I _beg_ you, please, please, _please_ help me!"

She's almost on the verge of tears, her eyes pleading with Jade to help her. And Jade almost _wants _to help her. She doesn't want her to be so sad, which is seriously not good. She _loves_ to see people sad, as sick as that may be. Feeling sympathy for people is just not in her agenda, it never was, aside from the occasional tug at her heart whenever one of her friends was sad. But just looking at the brunette girl awakes some sort of compassion in her that she almost can't ignore. It must be hard to have no one to talk to – although Jade would like to have that kind of solitude once in a while, – it must be hard not to have _a body_. "I," she starts and looks into hopeful brown eyes which just urge her on to say yes to her pleas. But she can't. She won't get further involved into this weird ghostly business. "No. No, sorry but… I really… I just can't."

She quickly goes back into her room, shutting the door in Tori's face. But Jade doesn't stay alone for too long, Tori stepping right through the door after a couple of seconds. Jade sighs, annoyed at the girl's clinginess and her apparent inability to understand the simple word 'no'. She's like a puppy, following you around and not leaving you alone. Ever. "Would you leave now? I'm not going to change my mind."

"Jade-"

"No, just go!"

Tori sighs, but her eyes fill with determination. "I'm not leaving, Jade."

They stare at each other, each girl trying to get the other one to back down. When the brunette doesn't show any sign of giving up anytime soon, Jade pushes out an annoyed breath and walks over to her bed. "Fine. Stay. _Whatever_." If she doesn't want to leave then so be it. Jade can handle her for a little while longer, it's inevitable that she would give up to persuade her into something that completely oversteps her rail of power. That stupid girl could wait here until she decayed, if… that was even possible for a ghost. She lets herself plop down onto her bed, reaching for her phone and ear buds, plugging them in and putting them in her ears. Her eyes find Tori, the girl looking at her from her spot by the foot of the bed, and Jade makes a big show of pressing play on her PearPhone. Music fills her ears, her eyes closing.

But when three hours pass and Tori still doesn't make a move to go away, Jade realizes that it won't be as easy to get rid of the brunette as she thought it would be.

_**x.X.x**_

The obnoxious sound of her alarm reaches Jade's ears and with a groan she rolls over, fumbling with her PearPhone to turn it off. When she finally manages to disable the annoying object, she sighs and lifts her hands to rub the sleep out of her eyes. Her mind feels so fuzzy, the memories of the weird dream she had feeling so real in her head. She had been writing – or attempted to – and then there was a girl – _a ghost? _– sitting on her bed and asking for her help. Her hands fall to her side and her eyes stare at the ceiling, a sigh escaping her mouth as she pushes the blanket away from her body and slowly sits up. Out of the corner of her eye, Jade can see something move and when she turns her head, her throat almost releases a scream.

"Jesus," she gasps when she comes face to face with Tori.

"Nope. Just me." Tori smiles brightly, ignoring the glare she receives. "Had a good sleep?"

_Great. It wasn't a dream. _"I thought you left," Jade mutters, completely ignoring Tori's question and getting up from the bed.

"I told you I wouldn't."

"Oh, yeah. You sure did." Jade turns around from her dresser and once again sends a glare in Tori's direction. "Is your ghostly brain damaged? I told you a billion times that I can't do anything for you! Just accept it and move on with your life! Or… afterlife or whatever you're stuck in now."

Tori watches the girl sort through her clothes, biting her lip when Jade turns back to her. "You're really mean, you know?"

She didn't expect Jade to laugh at that and frowns at the weird reaction she gets from her. "And what now? You want an apology? Trust me Tori, you didn't even encountered my definition of mean yet."

Jade surprisingly feels a slight pang in her chest at seeing Tori look down, her fingers starting to fiddle. She almost feels… _guilty_ for being so cold towards her, the girl not deserving to be treated the way Jade treats her. She frowns at herself. It's the way she is, her attitude doesn't even change towards her friends and it shouldn't change for a completely stranger either. She clears her throat and sidesteps the sad girl, although she might as well could just walk right through her. "I'm going to take a shower now. And when I come back I expect you to be _gone_, understood? Don't want you sitting here, snooping around, while I'm at school."

"Oh, I'm definitely leaving," Tori states with a small smile. Jade faces her, the surprise evident in her face. "I'm going to school with you," she says, her eyes twinkling with mischief.

"What? No way! You're gonna leave me alone. Go to the light, do whatever! But you're not coming with me!" Her eyes wide in anger, Jade stares at a smugly grinning Tori.

"Sorry, Jade. You can't stop me, can you?" The anger in Jade's eyes almost amuses Tori and she walks closer, the grin on her face not faltering as much as Jade wanted it to. "But you could get rid of me sooner if you'd just help me." Jade watches Tori walk out of the door and all she wants to do is to slap that smug expression off her face. Hot anger bubbles in her stomach and she doesn't think she's been this mad for a long time.

"I'll wait in your car!"

_**x.X.x**_

"Would you _stop_ that?"

Jade tries to push the words out of the side of her mouth, not really wanting anyone to think she's crazy. She received more than a few curious glances today, like in the hallway, when she was seemingly seen talking to a garbage can. Or in Sikowitz's class, when she loudly groaned in annoyance because of the unbelievingly loud singing from Tori. But well, if she really thinks about it, she most definitely _is _crazy, seeing a girl no one else can. The girl that really stretches her luck right now, still continuing to blow air into her face.

"Tori, I swear-"

"Who are you talking to?"

Cat's bubbly voice stops her from finishing her sentence, the redhead plopping down across from her. "No one," Jade pushes out through gritted teeth and after throwing the amused brunette one last glare, she turns to Cat, although her face doesn't relax in the slightest. "Oh, that's Cat, right? I've seen her hanging around you quite a lot," Tori utters, moving closer to Jade and resting her head in her palm. She releases a sigh when she watches Cat smile brightly, munching on some gummy bears. "I wish she was the one who could see me. She seems so nice, I'm sure _she_ would gladly help me."

"Yeah, she sure would."

"Who would what?"

Cat's head is tilted, her eyebrows drawn together in confusion. She really had to get a grip on herself, Jade thinks as she realizes that she yet again talked to Tori and looked like a complete idiot to everyone else. "No one," she repeats, her nails angrily biting the skin of her palm. "I was just thinking out loud."

"My brother tried to eat one of his socks today," the redhead randomly informs Jade, her confusion over Jade's words completely blown away. The look she receives from Jade – and Tori – doesn't seem to bother Cat very much as she just nods her head and then resumes to happily pop gummy bears into her mouth. "You know," Tori starts again, Jade having a hard time resisting to yell at her, "I've heard _a lot_ of stories from Cat about her brother already. Have you ever met him?"

Jade slowly turns towards her, the brunette's brows kitted in curiosity. With one swift movement, Jade swings her bag over her shoulder and gets up from the table. "Where are you going?" Cat asks confusedly, but Jade doesn't answer, only sends her a small wave without looking back. Her shoulders bump into various students on her way into the bathroom but she doesn't even glance their ways, let alone apologize to them. The bathroom door is roughly pushed open by Jade's hands and the eyes of the two girls standing at the sinks visibly widen at seeing an angry Jade West enter. The glare Jade sends their way brings them to quickly pick up their things before scurrying out of the bathroom. When she's finally alone, she chucks her bag to the floor, her hands gripping at the sink and eyes staring at her angry reflection. Jade takes in a deep breath in an attempt to calm down but when she sees Tori appearing in the mirror, all thoughts about calming down are thrown out of the window.

"Who do you even think you _are_?!"

Tori's confused gaze rests on the black haired girl whose eyes almost drill holes into the mirror. She whirls around and although Tori knows that she doesn't have to fear anything, because well, she isn't really _human_ right now, she can't help but be slightly scared as Jade walks closer to her. "You've been snooping around in my life for_ who knows_ how long, you try everything possible to embarrass me in front of others and you don't even let me concentrate on my classes!" Her voice is so loud that Tori's ears buzz. "You barge into my life, almost making me believe that I'm mentally ill and expect things from me that I'm not capable of doing!"

"But you don't know that! You _can_ help me, I'm so sure of it!"

"No, I _can't_! Listen, Tori," she says exasperatedly, her anger slightly fading and replacing itself with exhaustion, "I know this must be hard for you, I completely understand, I do." Jade fixes her eyes on Tori's and wills her voice to soften. "But there's nothing I can do. I don't know why I see you, maybe I _am_ slowly getting crazy, but… I'm positive that I can't help you."

Tori's forehead creases and her eyes get this pleading look again that Jade decided yesterday, she absolutely hated. "I think you can, Jade! Please-"

No, no, no! Stop that!" The pale girl waves her hand in front of Tori's face and quickly takes a few steps backwards.

"Stop what?"

"That _thing_ you do with your eyes! I don't… I don't want you to look at me like that!"

Tori frowns when Jade lifts her hands to shield her eyes and lets out a tired sigh, stepping closer to the only person who can see her. "I know I expect a lot from you. I know this must be hard for you too, seeing me when no one else can." Jade's hands slowly fall from her eyes to still see the pleading look in Tori's eyes and a small smile on her lips. "But see it from this side: if you help me, chances are high that you'll get rid of me soon. I won't annoy you anymore, I promise."

Jade's eyes drown in indecision and she's almost sure that she will _most definitely_ regret it if she complies Tori, but seeing the brunette look at her like that strangely tugs at her heartstrings and she doesn't even realize it when she slowly starts to nod her head. A bright smile lights up Tori's face but Jade just rolls her eyes and lets out an aggravated sigh at her excitement. "Okay, I'll help you! But only because I want you to leave me alone."

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you Jade! I really wish I could hug you right now!"

"Yeah," Jade mutters, picking up her bag and strolling to the door, "I'm glad you can't."


	3. Chapter 3

"What _is _all this stuff?"

Jade's eyes flick up from the textbook, watching as Tori intently looks at the various weird knick knacks lined up on a shelf in Jade's room. Jade shrugs, concentrating on her homework again. "Just that. Stuff."

Tori lifts a curious eyebrow but nods nevertheless, already being used to Jade's curt answers. She lets her fingers lightly trail over the shelf, stopping when they come across a framed black and violet butterfly. "Is this real?"

Again, Jade looks up. "No, it's not. Looks pretty real though, doesn't it?"

"Yeah," Tori quietly says, still looking at the replica of a butterfly, mesmerized by how real the little animal looks. But when her eyes fall onto a jar filled with liquid and something floating around in it, her face crumples in disgust. "What on earth is _that_?"

The frequent interruptions gradually start to annoy Jade, but when she looks up to see what Tori is talking about and she sees the disgusted look on her face, a smirk makes its way onto her lips. "It's a lump of fat. From the back of a cab driver." Jade's amusement only grows when Tori's expression switches from disgusted to shocked and then back to disgusted again. With a shake of her head and a shudder, Tori averts her eyes, looking around Jade's room.

"Maybe that's the reason you can see me. You're into the creepy stuff."

"So, you label yourself as creepy?" Jade questions with a smirk without looking up from solving her current math problem.

"No, not really myself. Just the state I'm in right now. That's kind of creepy, whatever is wrong with me." She sits down on the bed and watches Jade punch in some numbers into her calculator.

"There's nothing _wrong_ with you," Jade sighs and writes down the final answer, "Other than your excessive need to annoy me."

Out of Jade's mouth, that was almost a compliment and Tori smiles, simply ignoring the last part of Jade's statement. She stays quiet for the rest of the time while Jade finishes her homework. Tori's smile involuntarily widens when she sees how concentrated Jade looks, her brows knit together and her lip between her teeth. With a final relieved sigh, Jade closes her book and turns all of her attention to Tori.

"So what's the plan now?"

Tori's eyebrows crease. "What?"

"How do we get you back into your body?" Jade rolls her eyes at the brunette and shifts on the bed to get more comfortable. "So that I can finally get rid of you."

"Oh, right. Um…" She smiles nervously, her fingers starting to fiddle with the hem of her shirt, "I actually haven't really thought about it," Tori admits sheepishly. Her main goal had been getting Jade to help her. _How_ exactly the pale girl could help her or what she should do never really crossed her mind. Another eye roll reaches Tori.

"Well that's just great. You're just the smartest, aren't you?"

Sarcasm is heavily dripping from Jade's voice as she looks at Tori with a fake smile. It's Tori's turn to roll her eyes. The room is quiet for a moment until Tori sighs, shrugging her shoulders. "Well… maybe we should first find out what happened to me. Like… what I _am _now."

Jade slowly nods and gets up from her bed without another word, fetching her laptop from her desk, then walking back to the bed to plop down next to Tori. "Let's see what the Internet got to say about that." The girls sit in silence while the computer boots up. Jade steals a glance at the brunette, who bites her lip as she watches the screen of the laptop. Jade's eyes travel from her face down her entire body and when they settle on her face again, Jade frowns and lifts a single finger. She aims for the other girl's shoulder and gingerly, her finger moves closer and closer, until it pokes right through Tori's shoulder without feeling anything. The brunette's eyes snap to Jade, who just raises her eyebrows and lets her hand fall back into her lap.

"What?" She asks when Tori's puzzled gaze doesn't fade. "I just wanted to see if I could touch you."

"Oh. Well…" she trails off, her brows furrowing when she realizes that she's blushing. Risking another glance at Jade, it seems that she hadn't noticed it, her pale blue eyes fixed on the computer screen and opening up the internet browser. Tori mostly stays silent while Jade types in various things, clicking links that come up, scanning the pages for any kind of information that would help them figure out what's the deal with Tori. She scowls every time and leaves the page again, muttering darkly about "those idiots who want attention by telling ghost stories". After an entire hour of browsing the web, the two girls were still where they started: knowing absolutely nothing.

"Well that didn't help at all," Jade sighs and slowly closes her laptop. Her brows furrow as she stares straight ahead. "And you really don't see a light?" She turns towards Tori just in time to see her roll her eyes.

"Why do you always ask me that? I don't see anything! Because I'm not _dead_. No matter how much you want me to be." Tori's eyes cast downward as she mumbles the last part and again, this strange feeling of compassion encloses Jade's heart.

"Don't be stupid. I don't _want_ you to be dead," she says with an eye roll, "It's just… a reasonable explanation for me. As reasonable as it can get, with you being invisible and all, and all this spirit and ghost stuff, souls and God, whatever you-"

"You're talking nonsense," Tori smiles. Jade's eyes snap over to her, a shapely eyebrow raised and eventually, the pale girl shrugs her shoulders. "Well, I _am _crazy, so… I'm allowed to talk nonsense."

She lays back but Tori stays seated on the edge of the bed, her eyes running over Jade's face. "You're not crazy."

"No?" She chuckles, closing her eyes. "Well, that's good to hear. Especially from you."

Her words are sharp and Tori doesn't really know how to understand them. With knitted eyebrows she looks down at her hand, fingers splayed out on the dark comforter of Jade's bed. "I think there's a reason, Jade. There must be."

"Yeah. We established that. I'm creepy, that's the reason."

"No, that's not it," Tori argues, "I mean… there are far more creepier people than you. Why can't they see me? There's something else. I know that."

Jade suddenly sits up, a long sigh escaping her mouth and her eyes glowering at Tori. "With all the things you claim to know we should be able to get somewhere. You don't know _anything_, Tori. You're just as clueless as me. So just stop telling me you _know _stuff and just be glad that I'm helping you at all." She gets up, ignoring the way Tori flinches at her words. Just when Jade is about to open her door, she turns back around to find Tori looking at her lap. "We'll continue tomorrow. Right now, I just want a little time for myself."

_**x.X.x**_

"Hey Jade?"

Tori's soft voice floats through the air of Jade's bedroom, disturbing the quiet peace of the darkness. As a response Jade pushes out a muffled mix between a hum and a groan. Tori hesitates for a moment before asking "Are you still awake?"

This time, the groan out of Jade's mouth sounds so much clearer, as the pale girl rolls onto her back. "What kind of stupid question is that? I'm talking to you, of course I'm awake." Her sentence ends with an irritated sigh.

"Well, technically you weren't talking to me, you were groaning and that didn't really make it clear to me if you were awake or asleep. Besides, you could be a sleep talker and I wouldn't have known-"

A flying pillow interrupts her speech, the dark violet object flying right through her body, startling her. Her mouth agape, Tori looks at the pillow lying on the floor behind the armchair she's sitting on, then her eyes move to Jade. Only the dark silhouette of Jade's body, now sitting up on her bed, is visible to her eyes but even through the darkness Tori can picture the scowl on her features. "You're quite the rambler, aren't you?"

Tori frowns, her hands clasping together. "A rambler?"

Another irritated sigh from Jade. "You talk too much. You ramble. Makes you a rambler. Ever heard of it?" Tori stays silent and Jade reaches over to her nightstand to flick on her lamp. The warm light floods the room and now Jade can see Tori, sitting on her red armchair, her hands tightly clasped together in her lap and her teeth biting down on her lower lip. "What's up, Tori?" The tone of Jade's voice doesn't sound very welcoming and Tori really doesn't know if she should have started talking to Jade, when all she does is only annoy the black haired girl. But when she sees the curious look in Jade's eyes and not one trace of annoyance visible in Jade's face, Tori plucks up the courage to answer her. "Nothing actually," Tori tells her with a shrug, to which Jade merely raises an eyebrow, "I was just… bored I guess. Didn't want to wake you or anything."

"Bored, huh?" A brief moment of hesitation flickers over Jade's face before she scoots to the side a bit, patting the free spot next to her on the bed. "Get up here."

Tori slowly gets up from her seat, walking over to the bed but not daring to sit down on it, fiddling with her fingers and staring at the spot beside Jade as if it would light on fire if she just as much as touched it. "Come on," Jade says with an eye roll, "I won't bite."

"You wouldn't be able to," Tori jokes and smiles at Jade, lowering herself onto the bed. A smirk appears on Jade's face, but it fades when she shuffles her body downwards, lying down on her back and turning her head to face Tori.

"So. What can we do against your boredom? I want to go to sleep sometime and I'd rather do it without the lingering thought that my favorite ghost is bored out of her mind."

A smile tugs at the corner of Tori's mouth. "I'm your favorite?"

"Favorite _ghost_," Jade clarifies, "Don't flatter yourself. You're the only ghost I know, it's not that great of a compliment."

"Still. I'm your _favorite_," she states with a grin, "Meaning that you don't hate me as much as you always claim."

"I never said I hate you. You're just annoying. But generally, _everyone _annoys me. Even my friends, but that doesn't mean I hate them." Her pale fingers lace together, comfortably resting on top of her stomach as her eyes find the ceiling. Tori is the first one to speak, breaking the comfortable silence that fell over them. "I'm sorry."

Jade's eyebrows crease, her head turning to the side to find Tori staring at the ceiling. "For what?"

"For… annoying you." She sighs deeply before continuing. "I know you don't have to help me. But you do. And I appreciate that." Her head turns too, her eyes finding Jade's. "I know I… pushed you into this and didn't really leave you a choice so… I want to give you a chance to back out." Jade's eyebrows shoot up in surprise. "If you _really_, really don't want to… then it's okay. I won't be mad at you. One word and I'm out of your life."

It was a tempting offer. With only one word Jade could get rid of her, her problems would be solved – well, at least her 'ghost' problems – and she could go back to her life and forget about Tori Vega. But something's holding her back from saying anything. What kind of person would she be if she'd just leave Tori to her own fate without even trying to help her? It would make her Jade West, the girl who didn't care about anyone but herself. But it just doesn't feel right. Something about Tori pulls her in, makes her _want _to help. And that intrigues Jade, as much as she hates it. There has to be a reason why Jade feels almost obligated to help Tori, why the brunette turned up on _her_ doorstep out of all people here in Los Angeles. With a slightly defeated sigh, Jade closes her eyes for a brief moment before reopening them and looking into the anxiously waiting face of Tori. "No, you… you don't have to leave. I'll help you."

A wide smile, almost splitting Tori's face in half, appears on her face. "Really? You really-"

"Hey!" Jade interrupts her loudly, "Stop talking before I change my mind."

Tori's lips press together, her hand making a motion as if she locks a lock on her mouth and throws away the 'key'. Jade rolls her eyes at that, but a light smile tugs at the corner of her mouth. Then her eyebrows crease and she turns to Tori with a curious expression. "I have a question." Tori raises her eyebrows and nods for Jade to continue. "I've always wondered that, when… I don't know, there are ghosts in movies and stuff… Some can move things and stuff, some others can't. They just can't touch anything." Tori's eyebrows crease in amusement as she listens to Jade, the confusion in her voice apparent. "But every time, the ghosts can sit. Or lie down and stuff. And I always wonder why they don't… fall through the chair or bed if they can't even lift anything."

Tori smiles amusedly, trying to hold back the laugh that's bubbling up in her throat. "And you want an answer from me now?"

"Well… You can sit, you can lie down. Can you lift objects?"

"Sometimes I can." Tori turns onto her side, propping up her elbow on Jade's pillow and resting her head in her hand. "I really need to concentrate though. It took a while until I learned to lift anything. But I got the hang of it eventually and now it's pretty easy for me."

Jade turns too, mimicking Tori's position. "So did you ever haunt through an old mansion or… went to a cemetery at night to scare someone?"

Tori laughs at Jade's excitement. "I wouldn't go to those places, not even as a ghost. I'm not into the scary stuff." Jade's face falls in disappointment. "But I _did_ spook around a bit. Kinda took my revenge on an ex-boyfriend of mine."

"Oh?" Jade's interest picks up again as she raises her eyebrows at Tori. "What did you do?"

"I just went to his house at night and started out with turning out the light in his room-"

"Wow, well that's cliché."

"Shut up. He was so confused and went to turn the lights on again but every time he did that, I turned it off again. He was already getting pretty freaked out." Jade chuckles lightly. "Then I started to move things around. You know, just little things at first, like pushing his pencil from his desk." Tori laughs when she remembers how scared he had been. "He kept mumbling stuff like 'Oh my God, what's happening' and when I started to spin his desk chair around, he completely freaked and run out of his room. I wish he wasn't that easily to scare, I would have loved to keep going."

"That's great," Jade laughs, shaking her head, "I didn't think you had it in you."

Tori lifts a shoulder in a shrug and smiles. "Well, that's what you get for cheating on me."

Jade chuckles and turns back on her back, taking in her previous position with her hands laced on top of her stomach. After a moment of hesitation, Tori asks "Can I ask you something now?"

Jade shrugs. "Sure."

"Where's your mom?" The words are enough for the relaxed expression on Jade's face to disappear. "I mean," Tori continues, "I've only ever saw your dad and… I never saw a woman who could be your mom, you know? I was just wondering where she is."

"I don't want to talk about it," Jade says curtly, her eyes steadily fixed on the ceiling. Tori's eyebrows knit together. "I'm sorry, I… didn't think it… Nevermind."

"It's none of your business, Tori." Her voice is stiff and Tori knows she went too far. Although Jade's reaction just heightens her curiosity, she lets it go.

"I know. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have asked."

"Yeah," Jade murmurs, "You shouldn't have."

They stay quiet for a long time, neither one of them making any sound until Jade clears her throat and licks her lips, turning to look at Tori. "So, tell me: Any more ghostly adventures?"

* * *

_A/N: Forgot to do this in the last chapter:_

_ Dragoness114: No, I didn't. I'm just horrible with titles, so I already feared that there was something out there with the same topic and the same title. Oh well. But I might have to check the book out.  
_

_ TotallyJorixoXo: 'Just like Heaven' is with Reese Witherspoon and Mark Ruffalo. You should check it out if you haven't seen it yet.  
_


	4. Chapter 4

Tori sighs and lets her eyes lazily run over the many people around her. They're talking, laughing, eating, some are doing homework. And not one of them sees her. To them, she isn't here, she's simply not existing. It's such a weird thought for Tori and she slowly lets her eyes wander over to Jade, who's intently looking at her computer screen and her phone held up to her ear. Tori frowns slightly. She's been treating her harsher again since this morning. Tori guessed it has something to do with her mentioning her mother yesterday night. Conversation didn't really flow that easily after that little… 'incident' and ever since this morning, Jade barely talked to her.

With her phone still tightly pressed to her ear, Jade scrolls through the page she just clicked on and speaks up.

"There's an article about your accident."

Tori's eyes snap up and she quickly moves to sit next to Jade. "What does it say?" Her eyes quickly scan over the page, stopping when they come across a picture of the car wreck and a smiling picture of her and Trina. Jade is quiet for a while as she reads the article but then slowly shakes her head. "Nothing new. They write that your sister had a… _guardian angel-" _she stops to roll her eyes at that, "-by her side but you fell into a coma because your injuries were really serious. So, nothing new."

Tori's shoulders sag slightly as she releases a sigh. Of course there wasn't anything else. What did she expect? 'Investigations reveal that the soul of Tori Vega is out there somewhere, annoying the hell out of a mean and bitter teenage girl.' Yeah right. Tori's brown eyes flick to Jade's face and she frowns when she sees her still holding the phone to her ear. "Hey, what are you doing with your phone? If you want to call someone you should first dial their number, you know."

"Well, excuse me if I don't want people to think that I'm talking to myself," she harshly whispers, sending Tori a glare before quickly looking around the busy Asphalt Café, "At least this way they'll think that I'm talking to someone who's actually alive."

"I _am _alive!"

"Yeah, that's what you think," Jade scoffs, turning her attention back to the computer screen and clicking on a link to get information about comas. Tori's offended expression doesn't bother her very much as she quickly skims over the text.

"Why do you keep insisting that I'm dead?"

"Well, maybe because you are?" She turns to the brunette, her eyebrows raised. "Maybe _you _should just accept the fact that the light is calling for you. Go for it, follow it into heaven or hell or wherever it leads you."

"There _is_ no stupid light, I told you! I'm not dead!"

"Whatever you say," Jade mumbles and focuses back on the computer in front of her, when suddenly a deep voice sounds in her ear.

"Why are you reading stuff about comas?"

Jade jumps, her phone falling from her hand and clattering onto the lunch table and she turns around to glare at a curious looking Andre. "God, what are you doing?!"

The dark skinned boy holds his hands up. "Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you." He swings one leg over the bench, almost sitting down on Tori's lap. Tori yelps a little and quickly moves to the opposite side of the table. "Who were you talking to?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business, Harris," Jade grumbles loudly and snatches her phone from the table to stuff it into her bag. The last thing she needs right now is any of her friends prying their noses into her life and figuring out that she can see people no one else can. That would be the road down to 'Crazyville'. But when she looks up into the slightly hurt face of Andre, Jade knows she went too far. Andre is one of the very few people she never lashes out at. He's just one of the least annoying persons Jade knows, she doesn't have a reason to be a gank to him.

"Sorry," she sighs, pushing her hair out of her face. The boy looks up at her, still slightly confused about Jade's behavior towards him. "I just… have a slight headache." Her eyes move to Tori. "A headache that just. Won't. Leave." She watches the brunette roll her eyes and mimics her, before her face relaxes and she turns to Andre.

"Oh, I get it," he smiles and starts to unwrap his lunch, "Maybe you should go to the nurse and get a pill or something." He takes a bite out of his sandwich and Jade slowly nods her head.

"Yeah… I probably should," she quietly says, trying to ignore Tori for the time being. "Where are the others?"

"Beck and Cat have some project to work on and Robbie promised Lane to help him with something, I don't know."

They sit in silence for a while until Andre finished his sandwich, brushing his hands on his jeans and leaning forward, curiously looking at Jade. "So… what were you doing? Searching for comas and chiz?"

"Oh, I… I just did some research," she nods slowly, her expression nonchalant, "I'm writing a new play."

"What's it about?"

Jade looks at him deadpanned. "A coma patient." Andre lets out a laugh and nods his head. Jade shortly flicks her eyes to Tori, who just sits there with her chin in her hand, watching the interaction between Andre and Jade with great interest. Jade looks at her weirdly before she turns back to Andre, running her tongue over her lips. "You know... when I was researching… I found something."

Andre nods slowly, his brows furrowing in curiosity. "What did ya found?"

"Jade, what are you doing?"

Jade ignores Tori's question and narrows her eyes, focusing solely on Andre. "Have you ever heard of a girl named Tori Vega?"

"Um… no. Should I?"

"I found a report about her on the internet. She's been in an accident a year ago-"

"_Over _a year ago," Tori interrupts her and watches as Jade grinds her teeth together in annoyance.

"_Over_ a year ago and she's in a coma ever since." she pauses and takes in Andre's confused nod. "Before she got into this accident… she wanted to go to Hollywood Arts."

The confused expression on Andre's face doesn't fade and now Tori starts to question Jade's motives too. "I seriously don't know where you're going with this. Why are you telling him about me?"

_Why _am _I telling him about her?_ It's not like Andre would have all the answers she needs. And also, it's not like she could just _tell _him that the girl that's laying in a coma is sitting at their table right now and Jade is the only one who's able to communicate with her. Andre may be her friend and he may accept her ganky attitude but he would never in a million years believe her. He would probably declare her insane and Jade really doesn't want to risk that. "Why are you telling me all of this, Jade?" He asks slowly, clearly not knowing where his friend is going with this.

I just… I can _see_-" she breaks off, pressing her lips together when she realizes what she's about to tell Andre. Tori's eyes widen too and she leans over the table, trying to catch Jade's eyes that are still fixed on Andre. "Jade, I _really_ don't think that's a good idea."

"I can trust him," Jade mumbles to Tori, causing Andre's eyebrows to shoot up.

"You can trust who?"

She stares at him for a while longer before she finally tears her eyes away, closing them and pushing out a long breath. _Congratulations Jade, now he thinks you're stupid._ "I'm sorry, it's just," she pauses and rubs at her forehead, her eyes still tightly closed, "This… headache is driving me insane." Her eyes open, falling onto a concerned looking Andre. "Could you just let the teachers know that I didn't feel so well? I think I'm going home."

"Yeah, sure." He watches Jade get up from the table, and flicks his eyes over her face in worry. "Are you sure you can drive? Don't want you to get into an accident and end up like that Tori girl."

An offended gasp leaves Tori's mouth. "That's so disrespectful!"

"No, no. I'll manage, don't worry. I'll see you tomorrow." She sends him a weak smile and takes off, faintly hearing Andre's "See ya!" behind her.

Quickly getting into her car, Jade pulls the door shut, gladly welcoming the stillness. It's so quiet in here, the chattering and laughing of the students outside just a faint sound and Jade closes her eyes and rests her head against the seat. However, her moment of peace is abruptly interrupted when she feels another presence in the car, a loud sigh escaping her mouth. "Your friend is so rude," Tori sulks, Jade turning her head to look at her, "First he almost sits down on me and then that stupid comment. No wonder you are the way you are, with friends like that."

"Okay, first of all," Jade starts while fastening her seatbelt, "He didn't even know you were there. Remember? You're invisible to everyone." The brunette rolls her eyes as Jade pushes the key into the ignition and starts backing out of the parking lot. "Secondly… Andre is the sweetest guy on earth. He's nothing like me and you should be careful what you say about him." She ends her sentence with a light glare directed at Tori before she fully concentrates on the road in front of her.

"Yeah. Sorry," Tori mumbles, slumping in her seat, "Didn't want to insult your little 'boyfriend'."

Jade's eyes narrow but stay focused on the street. "I'm sorry, what?"

"Nothing."

"Andre is not my boyfriend," Jade clarifies, "Where would you get that idea?"

"It doesn't matter."

"Yes it does! Just tell me!"

"Fine," Tori say loudly and turns her body to face Jade, "Maybe I thought that because, whenever he's at your house, he's staying until midnight! That's a _little _bit suspicious! Sorry that I think something's going on between you two!"

"Wait, how do you…" she trails off, her eyes flicking over to Tori for a short moment. "Oh right, I forgot about your stalker tendencies. That's really not healthy, you know?"

"I am not a stalker!"

"No, you're just dead."

"I'm not- Jade, look out!"

Jade's eyes snap to the front to see a little kid running over the street. Her foot slamming on the brakes, Jade's body catapults forward, the seatbelt holding her back from flying out of the windshield. A gush of air escapes her lungs as the car finally screeches to a halt. The little boy in front of her starts crying and a woman comes rushing over to him, sending Jade an apologetic look. "Oh gosh," Jade whispers, still a little out of breath, and ignores the continuous honking from the car behind her for the moment. She blinks, still a little shocked at what just happened and throws a quick look into the rearview mirror, before slowly pushing down on the gas pedal. "That was a close call," Jade says after a while of silence and glances over to Tori. "Hey, are you okay?"

Given the fact that Tori wasn't even in danger – _she's not in her body, what harm would it have done to her?_ – makes Jade feel slightly stupid to ask her that question, but seeing as the girl had been in a _car accident_ and looks as pale as a ghost – _Ha! – _it seemed to be the right thing to ask.

After another moment of silence, with only the radio softly playing in the background, Tori finally answers. "Y-Yeah, I'm… I'm fine." She shakily inhales and nervous brown eyes move to Jade. "Are you?"

"Yeah. Thanks for the warning. If not for you, I would have probably suffered the same fate as you, huh?" Jade laughs uncomfortably but quickly registers the stupidity of her sentence. "I'm sorry, that was so uncalled for. I was… I mean, I tried to… Nevermind. Sorry."

Tori smiles, despite the slight déjà vu still playing out in her head. This was the first time since Tori met Jade that the pale girl really apologized, that she almost showed empathy. It's a nice change from the always so mean and sarcastic girl. "No problem. Just shook me up a little."

Jade nods and the rest of their ride is spend in silence until Jade parks in her driveway, but neither one of the girls make a move to get out. "So," Jade starts, pulling the key out of the ignition, "I think we should talk about what we're going to do now."

"I actually have an idea." Tori bites her lip and hesitantly turns her body towards Jade. "You still don't believe me that I'm not dead."

"It's not that I don't believe you," Jade says with a sigh, "I just like to rile you up a bit."

"Yeah. I figured," Tori nods, her mouth twitching up in a light smile, "But to really show you, to make sure you believe me… I want you to go with me to the hospital."

"I can't do that," Jade argues, her face morphing into a frown, "I don't know you. I mean… you know. I don't know _you_. I can't just wander into your room and… and… _look_ at you. They'll probably think I want to kidnap you."

"We'll find a way to get you in," Tori tells her in a reassuring voice, her eyes encouraging her to say yes. _Damn those eyes._ "Come on, Jade. I practically saved your life."

She smiles, her eyebrows raised as she waits for Jade to comply. And with a sigh and an eye roll, she does. "You didn't save _my_ life, you saved the boy's life. But... Fine. Not now though. And not tomorrow, I… have somewhere else I want to go with you."

But before Tori can ask where she wants to take her, Jade gets out of her car and slams the door shut.

* * *

_A/N: Just a quick thing: Trina isn't attending Hollywood Arts. Just thought I'd clear that up._

_This was kinda a pointless chapter, I just realized. But okay.  
_


	5. Chapter 5

"Well, _that _looks promising."

Jade turns towards Tori, sending the girl a surprised look. "Hey there. I thought I'm the one who's bitter and pessimistic."

"Jade, I told you I was at dozens of places like this. No one knew I was there. We might as well just go straight to the hospital."

Jade sighs and turns back to the large shop window, where a thick red curtain prevents eyes from seeing inside and the name 'Magnus Perili' is written in gold cursive on the glass. "You weren't _here_, were you? Maybe stupid you just went to the wrong people." Jade grins and lifts her eyebrows at Tori. "Come on. Let's get in," Jade murmurs, the annoyed expression on Tori's face satisfying her extremely. The inside of the shop was dark, various drapes hanging around, the whole room completely held in different tones of red. The distinctive smell of incense reaches both of the girls and Tori wrinkles her nose. "Where did you find this place?"

"The internet, of course," Jade keeps her voice low, her eyes roaming all around the shop, "Do you think I have those people in my phonebook?"

The light sound of something rattling catches their attention and they turn around to see a man with tan skin come through a beaded curtain. His hair, black with a little bit of grey here and there, stood up on his head like it has been electrified, his hazel eyes come to rest on Jade, a bright smile forming on his lips. "Welcome. I see some greater power brought you into my little world," Jade normally would have rolled her eyes at that but she's too occupied with figuring out with what kind of accent he speaks. "I'm Magnus. How can I help you?"

"Well, I found you on the internet. Read that you can communicate with the dead?"

A loud annoyed breath from Tori rings in Jade's ears. "How often do I have to tell you-"

"_Shut up_," Jade pushes out through gritted teeth to which Magnus only raises his eyebrows. He steps further into the room, the red stone on the necklace hanging around his neck swaying back and forth with his movements. "Yes indeed. Is that why you came to me?"

"Not exactly, I… have a question." Magnus nods and makes a motion with his hands for Jade to continue. "See, I don't really have a problem with… communicating. And the person isn't dead either, just lying in a coma and I guess-"

"Oh! That is so interesting," Magnus chirps, clapping his hands together excitedly. "Come, come," he waves his hand towards the room he came from just a couple of seconds ago, "Let's talk about this."

Jade follows him hesitantly, Tori being close behind her. "You know, for someone who supposedly can communicate with dead people, he seems pretty excited about this."

"Just shut up for a second, will you? I'm trying to help you here and if you can't accept my methods then fine! Go search for someone else."

The two girls glare at each other until the sound of someone clearing their throat catches their attention. Magnus looks at Jade with raised eyebrows. "Are you… talking to him right now?"

"_Him_?! Okay seriously now, wrong gender! Jade come on, let's go."

"Why do you think it's a guy?" Jade asks, ignoring Tori again while sitting down at the round table across from Magnus.

"Oh, it was just a guess. It's a girl then, yes?"

"Yes," Jade answers warily, slightly narrowing her eyes.

"I'm telling you Jade: He just wants to strip you off of your money. He can't communicate with the dead." Tori lets her eyes wander across his body, his fingers wearing various gold rings, his velvety red pants baggy, and a white shirt that looks like it belongs to a pirate. "He looks like a fat version of Aladdin."

Jade chokes on a laugh and clears her throat before she says "Okay, listen. Here's the deal. She's in a coma, or… her body is and… I want to get her soul back into her body. So that she can wake up again. How do I do that?"

The psychic narrows his eyes and begins to rub his chin. "Hm. Well, I must admit that I've never heard of such a thing before," he pauses, tilts his head and leans forward, "But it seems as though you really need my help. Let's talk about the price."

"See? Told you. He wants to screw you over."

Jade looks at Magnus. She may not like it very much but she knows Tori is right. He doesn't really seem to be much of a great help, more interested in earning easy money than anything else. "Well, how do I know you can help us? You can't even _see_ her, let alone communicate with her."

"Good point." He leans back in his chair and starts to grin smugly. "But maybe I can do something for you. It's your decision. Twenty Dollars, because I'm feeling nice."

Jade hesitates for a moment before making up her mind and reaching into her bag. Tori's eyes widen as she watches her take out her wallet and pluck out a twenty dollar bill. "No! What are you doing? No, no, no, you're not giving this guy _anything_!"

But Jade doesn't listen, flipping her hair over her shoulder and holding out the bill for Magnus to take. The man reaches out but before he can take the money, Tori snatches it out of Jade's hands, causing for the psychic's eyes to widen. "Tori, what are you doing?"

The chair Magnus sits on squeaks loudly as he slides back on it. "I'm not letting you do this! This is your money, you shouldn't spend it for such crap!"

"This 'crap' could help you!" Jade gets up and lunges forward, but Tori quickly steps out of the way. "Tori, don't be stupid! Just let me pay him!"

"No!"

"You're such an idiot, I swear!"

"_You _are an idiot if you really believe this Marcus guy."

Jade huffs, narrowing her eyes. "His name is Magnus."

"So w-wait," Magnus' voice rings out, Jade and Tori both turning towards the obviously frightened man, his wide eyes still fixed on the twenty dollar bill seemingly floating in the air. "Th-there really is someone," He leans forward a bit and looks at Jade, whispering the last part. "_here?_"

"See Jade?" Tori says, crossing her arms, "He doesn't even believe in this stuff. And you wanted to give him your money."

Jade rolls her eyes, she too crossing her arms. "No need to whisper." She turns to Tori. "Okay. You were right, alright? Let's get out of here." Her hand reaches out and plucks the money out of Tori's grasp, walking out of the shop and ignoring the way Magnus calls after her. She quickly unlocks her car and climbs in, Tori closely following her. "Well, that guy was an idiot," she states as she starts the car, "But then again, I shouldn't really have expected much, right?"

"Well, I could have told you that it's pointless. We're on our own." A big sigh from Jade catches Tori's attention and she turns her eyes away from the passing cars and houses to look at the dark haired girl. A slight smirk starts to form on her lips and Tori raises her eyebrows.

"It was worth it though. Did you see his face when you grabbed the money?" Jade laughs and Tori joins in, remembering Magnus' horror stricken face. "That was priceless."

"Yeah, that was great." She nods and bites her lip. "So Jade?"

"Hm?"

"You don't have to be anywhere else now, right?"

"Right," Jade slowly answers, glancing at Tori.

"Then… we could go to the hospital now."

Jade groans loudly. "Do we have to?"

"Yes," Tori exclaims, vigorously nodding her head, "Come on, Jade. Just turn left here."

And even though she really doesn't want to, she turns the wheel to the left with a loud, exaggerated sigh, a weird feeling creeping up inside of her at the thought of visiting Tori's body at the hospital.

_**x.X.x**_

"4th floor."

Jade's eyes move from watching the doors of the elevator close to Tori who raises her eyebrows at her, flicking her head towards the large row of buttons. "Right," Jade breathes, her finger reaching out to push down the button with the alit '4' on it. The way Jade tightly crosses her arms and her continuous tapping of her foot slightly confuses Tori.

"Are you nervous?"

"_No_," Jade scoffs but refuses to meet Tori's eyes. She really _is_ nervous for some unexplainable reason. It's not _her _body that they're about to visit, not her life that totally spun out of control and took a wrong turn into 'Ghostland'. The doors open with a 'ding'. They step out, Jade steering for the reception. "So," Jade sighs, hoping to be able to talk without anyone noticing. But when she turns to face Tori, she's met with nothing. Quickly turning back around, Jade sees her walking down the hall. "Hey!" At Jade's harsh whisper Tori turns around, eyebrows drawn together.

"What? Let's go! My room is this way."

Jade sighs and shakes her head, stepping closer and trying to keep her voice as quiet as possible. "I can't just waltz into your room. Unlike you, _I'm_ not invisible. Technically, I don't even know you."

"Oh. Right." She hadn't thought about that. Of course Jade is right, she really can't just walk in there without anyone knowing her relation with Tori. The brunette frowns but then her eyes light up. "Ooh, wait! That's Angela," Tori points to a middle aged ginger with short, curly hair. "She's really nice. You should go talk to her, she's one of the nurses who take care of me."

"Well, what do I say?" Her feet set in motion, her eyes fixed on the nurse who's turned away from her, scribbling something on the clipboard in her hand.

"Ask about me. Tell her that you're a friend and that you want to see me."

The strong pumping of her heart pulses through Jade's ears, the steady drumming noise making her stomach queasy. She's sure that her nervousness – she still isn't sure where it's coming from – is radiating from her body and she really hopes her acting skills would come to good use, now standing directly in front of Angela.

"Uh, excuse me?"

The nurse turns around, a nice smile immediately urging Jade on to continue. "I'm Jade West and um… I was wondering if you could tell me something about a friend of mine? Her name's Tori Vega."

At the mention of Tori's name Angela's smile slips but before she can open her mouth to say anything Jade proceeds to continue. "I heard she's in a coma. I would have come sooner but… I only found out about it a couple of days ago. I'd just really like to see her."

The older woman nods slowly, and Jade risks a glance at Tori, who smiles at her encouragingly and gives a firm nod. "Well… of course I can't give you any information about her condition since you're not related to her or in any way connected to the family." Her eyes travel back and forth between Jade's. "But I could let Tori's mother know you're here. She came in just five minutes ago. Does she know you?"

"N-no, she doesn't."

"Jade," Tori's voice fills her ears and she resists the urge to turn towards her, "Let her tell my mom you're here."

Jade nods almost automatically, Angela slightly tilting her head in confusion. "But could you… could you let her know? That I'm here, I mean? It really is important to me."

Angela hesitates for just a second before she smiles again, that really nice smile that could comfort you no matter what, and nods her head. "I will. Wait here, I'll be back in a minute."

A deep breath escapes Jade's lungs as she watches the nurse swiftly walk down the hallway. "Told you she's nice," Tori says into her ear and Jade nods, humming in agreement and crossing her arms. Tori watches her, a smile forming on her lips. "Thank you. I'm really happy you're doing this for me."

Jade turns towards her and although all she wants to tell her is that she's not doing it for her but rather for herself, she doesn't, simply nodding her head in a silent way of telling Tori she's welcome. Even if Jade doesn't want to admit it – and she wouldn't admit it, that much is clear to her – she most definitely _is _doing this for Tori. She didn't _have_ to do all this research and she also didn't have to come here, Tori couldn't do anything to force her. And Jade is sure, if she would have just ignored her pleas for a little while longer, Tori would have given up eventually and left her alone for good. But there just is something about the brunette that makes Jade _want_ to help her, and it's not just the fact that she's amazing at mastering the puppy dog eyes.

"There's my mom."

Tori's voice snaps her out of her thoughts and she follows Tori's gaze towards Angela, who's looking back at her while talking to a woman who slightly resembled Tori. The curious eyes of Tori's mom settle on her and Jade's heart slightly speeds up. She hesitantly smiles back when Angela sends her one of her own warm smiles before she takes off, Jade's eyes moving to watch Tori's mother slowly approaching her. "Hello," she says cautiously and Jade can't help but feel like a criminal all of sudden, "You're here to see Tori?"

"Yeah… my name is Jade. I'm a friend of hers and… I just found out about the… accident."

A fleeting sadness flickers over her face at the mention of Tori's accident, but otherwise Mrs. Vega still looks at her cautiously, almost reluctant to believe her. "I usually know all of Tori's friends. How do you know her?"

_Well, she's going to be a tough nut to crack._

"Just tell her that-"

But Jade starts talking again, not letting Tori finish her sentence, much to the surprise of the invisible girl. "We met at Hollywood Arts. She was there, looking around I guess, and we bumped into each other in the hallway. She almost made me spill my coffee all over myself." Tori smiles, because even though that story wasn't true, it could have easily happened to her. Mrs. Vega seems to believe Jade, her wary expression wearing off and a smile appearing. "She kept apologizing and somehow… we got into a conversation. Tori told me that she would be starting at Hollywood Arts soon and she was so excited about it. Then, completely out of the blue she asked me if I could show her around when she had her first day and, usually, I would have said no without missing a beat but… Tori," she stops for a moment, shrugging her shoulders, "I don't know. I just looked at her and I couldn't bring it over me to decline her anything."

Jade laughs a little, looking at a spot by Mrs. Vega's feet. Her face takes on a somber expression as she gets ready for the last part of her story. "She never showed up though. I… I was so confused and I never heard from her again. But then… I found an article on the internet about Tori's accident, that she fell into a coma. And I… I just came here to… to see her."

She finishes off with a deep breath and catches Mrs. Vega's eyes again. Not all that surprised, Jade sees a smile on her face and tears in her eyes. Slowly, she nods her head. "Well… if you want to see her…" She trails off, keeping her eyes fixed on Jade as she motions her head in the direction Tori wanted to go earlier. Jade smiles and nods, following Mrs. Vega down the hall, a sudden feeling of relief flooding through her body. She turns her head and sees Tori walking next to her, staring at her in slight astonishment. Jade only smirks, sending her a wink and turning to look away again. Mrs. Vega stops suddenly and pushes open a white door to one of the many rooms. She motions for Jade to come in and after Jade stepped into the room, she quietly closes the door behind them.

Jade's smile abruptly falls as her eyes land on the figure lying in the hospital bed. It really is Tori but she looks nothing like the cheerful and… 'alive' Tori Jade had come to know. Her normally so tan skin sickly pale, her brown eyes closed and various machines and monitors connected to her, this Tori is nothing like the Tori Jade sees every day. "Oh man," she whispers, hesitantly taking a couple of steps closer to the bed.

"See," Tori quietly says, her eyes fixed on her body as she approaches the side of the bed, "Now you can see for yourself. I'm still alive."

"She's been in a coma for exactly one year and three and a half months now," Tori's mom says as she too, steps closer. Jade swallows harshly but doesn't take her eyes off of the lifeless girl, this situation affecting her more than she wants to admit.

"Will she… wake up again?"

A sigh leaves Mrs. Vega's mouth. "She could. There's still vivid brain activity and her injuries have long since healed. It's possible that she could wake up any day but…"

When Tori's mom doesn't continue, Jade tears her eyes away and looks up at the woman. "But what?"

"Well… you never know what happens," she murmurs thoughtfully, her eyes fixed on her daughter in the hospital bed, "But of course we're not giving up. We won't stop believing that she _will_ wake up."

"That's good," Jade smiles, her eyes finding Tori's, who's standing behind her mother with a glum expression on her face. Jade bites her lip and turns back to Mrs. Vega. "Does she have a lot of visitors?"

Much to Jade's surprise, Tori's mom shakes her head. "No. Just me, her dad and her sister. And her aunt too."

Jade frowns. "What about her friends?" She finds it hard to believe that a person like Tori wouldn't have any friends. She's so… peppy. People like that, right?

"They visited the first couple of months. But after a while they just… stopped coming. I guess it was just too much for them to handle."

Jade's eyes flick to Tori again who averts her eyes uncomfortably and just like that, Jade feels really bad for her. She's sure that, if she would ever be in a coma – which hopefully will never happen – her friends would stay with her, no matter how long it would take for her to wake up. They would never just… give up on her just because it's "too much to handle". "Well, it shouldn't be," Jade speaks up, both mother and daughter snapping their eyes up at Jade's determined tone, "If they really were her friends, they would have stuck by her side. When Tori wakes up she should be grateful that she got rid of them. People like that aren't worth it. They're just morons."

She doesn't really know where this stupid want to make Tori feel better is coming from or why that smile Tori shoots her means so much to her but if she's honest, she doesn't even _want_ to know. She's seriously getting too attached but nevertheless, she can't stop the next question to bubble out of her mouth.

"Would you mind if I'd come by every once in a while?"

Mrs. Vega's already stunned expression doubles, but then a slight smile comes to her face. "No, I… No, you can come if you want to. That's fine."

Jade smiles and nods her head, her eyes flicking to Tori lying in the hospital bed. "Thanks. Um… I should go now." She looks at Mrs. Vega. "But I'll come back soon." Tori's mom nods with a smile on her face and Jade focuses her eyes on Tori's unconscious form again, her fingers lightly running down Tori's arm. "Bye, Tori. See you soon."

She bids goodbye to Tori's mother and then exits the room without a look back. When she's back in the elevator and the doors close, Tori appears next to her again. Jade turns her head to look at the brunette but Tori continues to stare straight ahead. Then, she lightly shrugs her shoulders and a small smile appears on her lips. "My mom likes you."

It's Jade's turn to shrug and she turns her head away, a smirk playing on her lips as she stares at the grey elevator doors. "I was just being my usual so charming self."

Tori laughs, turning to look at Jade. "Yeah," she softly says, fondly smiling at the black haired girl, "You were."

Jade turns her head at Tori's words, their eyes meeting and it's almost impossible for them to look away from each other. Something seems to buzz between them, neither one of them really knowing what exactly it is. Only when the doors open with a ding does their strong gaze break, Tori clearing her throat and Jade fighting the blush that creeps its way onto her face.

"Let's go."


	6. Chapter 6

"So, you believe me now, don't you?"

Jade slowly sits down on the edge of her bed, watching Tori who's standing in front of her with crossed arms and raised eyebrows. "Yeah," she drags the word out and takes a deep breath, "But I still think something is seriously wrong with me for being able to communicate with you."

Tori's melodic laugh fills her ears and she can't help but smile slightly. "Of course." Tori walks over and takes a seat beside Jade, tilting her head and smiling at her. "That story you told my mom about how we met… it sounded really convincing."

Jade waves her hand dismissively. "Please. I'm an actress. That was simple Improv."

Another soft laugh leaves Tori's lips. They're silent for a moment before Jade speaks up. "Well, you're going to learn that soon enough."

"Learn what?" Tori asks confusedly, her brows furrowed as she watches Jade lay down on her back.

"Improv. Being such a dashing actress like me." She raises her eyebrows at the brunette before adding with a smirk, "But of course you'll never be as good as I am."

Tori smiles but doesn't respond. Instead she looks down at her lap, her fingers starting to fiddle with each other, a sign Jade figured out, that Tori's nervous. "What? What's up with you?" Jade sits up with a frown, carefully flicking her eyes over Tori's face.

"Jade," she sighs, "I don't even know if I'm ever going to wake up again."

"Yeah, you will!" Jade's voice is laced with fierce determination and Tori snaps her eyes up in surprise. She watches as the pale girl blinks, obviously as surprised as Tori. "I mean… since when are you so negative? We'll get you back into your body."

But Tori stays quiet, the only slight response Jade gets a small sad smile before the brunette moves her head downwards again. "Tori, just-"

"Are you afraid of dying?"

Tori fully turns towards her now, her eyes narrowed in curiosity and lips slightly parted. The question catches Jade off guard and it takes a moment before she's ready to answer. "I don't… know. I mean… I guess a little bit. Why are you asking me that? You're not gonna die, Tori."

"You don't know that," Tori quietly mumbles and looks down at her hands, "Or maybe I'll never wake up again. What then? I'm... I'm just really scared."

They both are quiet for a moment. Yeah sure, the possibility is there. It could happen that she won't wake up but Jade really doesn't want to think about that. They still could do so much, even though Jade doesn't have any clue _what _to do. Her mouth lets out a small sigh and she slowly inches closer to Tori, suddenly wishing she could touch her. "Don't be scared. You're gonna be alright."

Tori looks up, turns towards Jade and shakes her head. "Jade-"

"You're not alone," Jade's eyes steadily look into Tori's in an attempt to make clear to the brunette that she's being completely honest, "I _promise_ you… that I won't leave you alone." Tori looks taken aback and Jade blinks, slightly confused by her sudden… niceness. "I actually… really mean that. I don't know why but I do."

Tori smiles, nodding her head. "Thank you." Her eyes move back down to look at her hands, her mouth taking in a shaky breath. "You don't even know how much that means to me."

"Believe me," she mumbles absentmindedly, "I actually do."

The room falls into a comfortable silence, only broken by the sound of the doorbell ringing. Jade sighs, rolls her eyes and gets up from the bed. She pauses at the door however and turns back around, her eyes meeting Tori's. "I really think your friends are idiots for giving up on you."

The smile that breaks out on Tori's face affects Jade more than she wants to admit and she can't stop the corners of her lips to lift up in a small smile of her own. It's a weird thing, the way Tori keeps affecting her, Jade thinks as she slowly walks down the stairs, the doorbell chiming again. They know each other for not even a week now but to Jade it feels like they know each other for far longer than that. The weird tingly sensation that aroused in her stomach back in the elevator when their eyes met so briefly and the way her heart stutters when Tori just as much as smiles at her… she wouldn't go as far to say that she had feelings for the brunette because, well, that would just be the most ridiculous thing… right? Maybe on some level, she _has _a little crush. Jade can't deny that Tori is, in fact, very pretty and she really isn't opposed to having girl crushes. They don't mean anything. It's just a crush, everybody has them. She rolls her eyes at herself and takes a deep breath, wiping all thoughts about crushes and Tori from her brain for the moment and swinging the door open to reveal Andre.

"Heeeey… Andre," she warily greets him, tightly gripping the door in her hand, "What are you doing here?" The boy doesn't say anything and pushes past Jade without another word. Turning around, Jade looks at him confusedly. With his lips pursed, his brows drawn together and eyes lacking the usual happy sparkle, Andre looks nothing like Jade's best friend. "What's wrong?"

His eyebrows raise, his finger pointed at his own chest. "With me?" Jade nods slowly and quietly closes the door behind her. "I think I should rather ask you that question, Jade."

His voice is quiet and his expression noticeably softens, which only adds to Jade's confusion. What was he talking about? He steps closer to her, his eyes searching hers. Jade crosses her arms over her chest, Andre's gaze slightly starting to make her uncomfortable. "Everything is alright with me. I'm not the one acting all weird."

The laugh that escapes Andre's mouth surprises her. "You aren't? Jade, why are you lying to me?"

"Wh- I'm not lying to you!"

"I know something's up with you, girl!" He shakes his head but Jade's eyes are fixed on Tori who hesitantly comes down the stairs, her fingers fiddling again as she takes in the scene in front of her. "I'm your friend, you can trust me. You always talk to me when you have a problem."

Jade licks her lips and turns her attention from Tori back to Andre. Her shoulders lift in a shrug. "Yeah. But I don't have a problem."

A loud sigh gets past Andre's lips and his eyes close for a brief moment. Jade appreciates that he's always so concerned about her, that he always wants her to feel good. But that's just the last thing she needs right now, with Tori in her life, needing her help. "You've been acting so weird the last couple of days. I mean… you've distanced yourself from us for the most part, we all caught you talking to _yourself_ several times," he raises his eyebrows, Jade turns her head away, "I just don't understand. I'm worried about you."

"Andre," Jade starts and turns back to face him, "there's nothing for you to be worried about. I'm fine. And please, just because I didn't hang around you guys so much the last few days means something is wrong with me?" She chuckles, shaking her head. "You know I sometimes need my space. I was always like that. That's not a reason to freak out like you are right now."

"Jade, is it because..." He hesitates, biting his lip and shifting his weight from one foot to the other. "Y'know...?"

Jade's eyes narrow at him curiously. "What?"

"Well, next month is… the anniversary of-"

When she realizes what Andre is about to say her eyes widen and quickly move to a curiously looking Tori before settling back on Andre. "_Shhhh!_"

Andre breaks off, furrowing his eyebrows at Jade's reaction. "Jade, it's nothing to be-"

"Shut up now, okay? It's not about that!"

"But I could understand if-"

"Andre!" Her sudden change in demeanor takes him off guard and he quickly snaps his mouth shut. "I'm fine, I told you. Just trust me. If something would be wrong you'd be the first person I'd go to, _alright_?"

She takes in the slow nod from the boy, sighing when the worried look in his eyes still doesn't vanish. "Did you… want something else? Or did you just want to check up on me?"

"Just checking up on you."

Jade nods, arms still crossed and lips forming a thin line. "Okay. Well. You did. I'm okay, so…"

"Yeah, I'll just go now." He bites his lip and steps past Jade but stops and turns around again when he feels Jade's hand on his arm. She smiles at him, one of her real smiles, which not many people get the chance to see. "But thank you. I don't know what I'd do without you, Harris."

Finally a smile lights up Andre's face. "No problem. But if something's up with you… if you need to talk about anything then… you know where to find me."

"I do. See you tomorrow."

He smiles and nods at her one last time before disappearing out of the door. "What was that about?"

Tori's voice fills her ears and she closes her eyes before reopening them and turning around to look at the brunette. "Nothing, really. He's just worried because he saw me _talking to myself_." Jade smirks and saunters over to Tori. Her head tilts when the girl stays quiet, her lip captured between her teeth and her fingers still fiddling.

"I'm sorry that I'm getting between you and your friends," she says eventually, her voice quiet and her eyes guilty. Jade's smirk falls and she sighs, her hand lifting to run through her hair. "You don't get between me and my friends. Andre's just in the overprotective best friend mode."

Tori smiles. "I thought Cat is your best friend."

"She is." Jade walks back up to her room, Tori closely following her. "But Cat is… you know… she's Cat. She's really sweet and chiz but you can't really talk to her about serious things." She walks into her room, holding the door open until Tori stepped inside before pushing it shut. "And she can be pretty annoying. Andre on the other hand is always so calm and… quiet and I really like that about him."

"I see," Tori mumbles after a while and takes a seat next to Jade who snatched her computer from the bed and is now typing something. "What are you doing?"

"I found a website when I was looking for that Marcus guy… wait a moment…" She narrows her eyes at the computer screen before she clicks on a link.

"Magnus," Tori mentions absentmindedly as she scans over the page Jade just opened.

"Huh?"

"That guy's name was Magnus."

Jade smiles slightly and turns to look at Tori. "Oh. Right."

Tori's eyebrows scrunch up. "_Everythingunderthemoon... _What kind of site is that?"

Jade turns her attention back to the screen and starts clicking through the various links. "I don't really know. I just read ghosts and spirits and thought it might help us. Won't hurt to try it out." Jade's eyebrow raises. "Spells…" Clicking on the link, a page with various spells pops up. A smirk forms on her lips. "Oooh, look at that: _Spell to Rid Oneself of a Bothersome Spirit_. What do you think about that? Should I try it out?"

"Ha ha. Very funny." Tori releases a loud sigh, her shoulders sagging. "Jade, I don't think stuff like that will help very much. I mean, do you seriously believe in that stuff? Spells? Really?"

"Well, I didn't believe in a ghost who walks around and tries to get back into her body which lies in a coma up until recently, so," Jade shrugs, scrolling down the page, "might as well give it a try."

"B-but not the 'Get rid of ghosts' spell, right? I-I mean…"

Jade smirks at Tori's obvious worry, the girl's stuttering highly amusing her. "Oh, well… I don't know. Maybe I'll try it." Tori's eyes widen, her face taking on an absolutely horrified expression and it amuses Jade to no end that Tori really believes her that she can't help but laugh out loud.

"Jade!" Tori scolds, lifting her hand and swinging to hit the other girl's arm, only to swoosh right through it. This only fueled Jade's laughter, causing Tori to pout and a blush to stain her cheeks. "That's not funny," she mumbles but soon joins in, the sound of Jade's laugh being so addicting. "You really are so horrible."

After taking a deep breath to calm herself and wiping at her teary eyes, Jade chuckles and winks at Tori. "Oh, you didn't even see me at my best yet."

* * *

_A/N: FlorMorada: Firstly: You're so sweet! Thank you very much! And yeah, I already know what's happening. I already have a lot written for it and the ending is already planned out in my head. But there still are some gaps that I fill in as I go along, so... mostly planned out but also a little bit of 'just writing with the flow'._


	7. Chapter 7

"So listen. Plan for the day: You come with me to school, after that I have to rehearse a scene with Cat, but I don't think that will take long, and then… we'll go to the hospital. Any objections?"

Tori smiles at Jade, shakes her head and shrugs her shoulders. "No. Not at all."

Jade nods, then smirks at the girl sitting on her desk chair. "I wouldn't have cared either way, so…" With a shrug of her shoulders and a wink sent in Tori's direction, Jade turns towards her dresser and starts picking out clothes, Tori's laugh reaching her ears. "I'm gonna get ready now. Don't do anything stupid while I'm gone."

Tori watches the pale girl leave the room and sighs. Slightly spinning in the chair, she takes a good look around, her eyes observing every little detail about Jade's room. It was always so dark in here, due to the deep red walls and black carpet and the heavy red curtains hanging in front of the two windows. But Tori can't help but feel comfortable, despite the usual darkness and the creepy things Jade seemed to love to collect. Staring at the bed, Tori begins to wonder what would happen if she gets back into her body. Would Jade and her keep in contact? Would they become friends? Or maybe they could even become-

Tori freezes, her eyes widening and her lips parting when she realizes just what exactly she's starting to consider. A relationship. Her eyebrows knit together. Why was she thinking about that? Sure, Jade is helping her and Tori loves her for that. Platonically of course. But her mind started to make up scenarios in her head, showing her what could happen if she and Jade would be together. And the electricity she feels in her entire body whenever they look at each other sure isn't helping at all. She's sure that if Jade knew what goes on in her head right now, she definitely would use that 'Ridding Oneself of Ghosts' spell. Tori's eyes squeeze shut and she shakes her head. "Stop it. This is just ridiculous."

"What's ridiculous?"

Tori's eyes immediately snap open and land on Jade, standing in the doorway of her room. "Um… nothing, just," she tries to find a way to talk herself out, her eyes traveling across the room until they land on the paper where Jade wrote down the spell they want to try out, "The spell. I… I don't really think it's going to work."

She nods her head to convince Jade and shoots her an awkward smile. Jade shrugs her shoulders and steps into her room. "We'll see. Won't hurt to try it out." Tori watches as she grabs the paper and folds it before neatly placing it in her bag. She turns to look at Tori, motioning with her head to the door. "Come on. Don't wanna be late."

_**x.X.x**_

"So, what time should I come by today?"

Jade frowns and fully turns her head towards her friend. "What do you mean?" Andre merely raises his eyebrows at her, stretching his legs out in front of him. "Our song. We wanted to finish it this weekend."

A sudden realization dawns on Jade's face as she remembers that they still have to finish their song they wrote and composed together if they want to perform it in the big showcase. Jade pushes out a breath, closes her eyes for a short moment and shakes her head. "Right. The song." Biting her lip, she flicks her eyes back and forth between Andre's. "Um… could we maybe meet up tomorrow? I kinda have a thing today and it's really important so..."

Much to Jade's relief, Andre shrugs his shoulders nonchalantly. "Yeah, sure. Ain't got a problem with that." She shoots him a smile but jumps slightly when she hears Tori's voice in her ear. "Why did you cancel?"

When she sees that Andre and is busy playing a game on his phone, Jade slowly turns her head towards Tori, only to see the Latina with a troubled look on her face. Jade raises an eyebrow in a silent question, to which Tori sighs loudly. "You shouldn't have canceled. We can go to the hospital another time. Tell him he can come over today."

Tori watches as Jade turns away from her, her eyes fixed straight ahead, and it doesn't look like she's going to talk to Andre. "Jade! Tell him that today works!"

"No," Jade growls, causing Andre to look up from his phone.

"What?"

Jade turns back to Andre, her mouth slightly falling open. "Um… No. Oh no, I forgot something in my locker." She swiftly gets up from her seat, shoots Tori a glare and then turns to Andre, shrugging her shoulders. "I'll be right back."

Before he can say anything, Jade storms out of the classroom. Steering for her locker, she's relieved that no one's in the hallway. She stops abruptly, crosses her arms and taps her foot as she impatiently waits for Tori to follow her. Soon enough, the brunette comes stalking around the corner, her face contoured in angry lines. She lifts her arms in question, shaking her head. "What?"

"What is your freaking problem?" Jade's voice echoes through the hallway but the pale girl really doesn't care who hears her now. "You should be thankful, but instead you keep annoying me!"

"Oh, I'm sorry that I don't want you rearranging your life for me!"

Jade laughs and shakes her head. "Rearranging my life? _Just_ because I cancel _one_ little thing? You're being ridiculous."

"Well, we're not going to the hospital today," Tori sulks and with her crossed arms, furrowed eyebrows and pouty lips she looked like a little child. Jade narrows her eyes at her and slowly walks closer. Her eyes flick all over Tori's face before settling on the brunette's eyes.

"We are going to the hospital," Jade quietly murmurs and doesn't break her gaze, "End of discussion. You don't have anything to say about that."

Tori grinds her teeth together at Jade's stubbornness. She appreciates it of course, that Jade is willing to cancel her plans, but this isn't what Tori wants. Jade already neglected her friends enough, she doesn't want her to keep doing that. "I'm not coming with you," Tori answers just as quietly and hopes this will work to change Jade's mind. But it doesn't. Jade only shrugs her shoulders and smirks. "Then I'm going alone. Do you really think I have a problem with that?"

The smug expression Jade is sporting right now infuriates Tori to no end. She sends Jade a glare, almost as intense as the ones Jade always shoots her, and growls "You really are a gank!"

"Oooh, thanks for that info, Tori! I've never heard that before."

"Blah, blah, blah," is the only response Tori can come up with and grimaces at the black haired girl. Jade returns the gesture just as a boy comes walking down the hallway, stopping at the sight of Jade West making a face. Their eyes meet for a brief moment before Jade starts to glare at him. "What?" She barked, causing the boy to slightly shrink back. "I'm loosening up my face muscles. You got a problem with that?"

His shaggy hair bounces on top of his head as he frantically shakes his head. "Good. Then move!" Jade watches him scurry away before sighing and turning back to Tori. "I need to get to class now, Tori."

"But we're not finished yet!"

Jade shakes her head and runs her tongue over the front of her teeth. "So, let me get this straight: You don't want me to neglect my friends, but if I neglect my education for you, that's okay?"

The way Jade looks at her, her eyes piercing through hers and her eyebrow raised, makes Tori feel stupid for even saying anything. She sighs, slowly shakes her head and looks to her feet. "I'm sorry," she quietly says, her foot shuffling on the ground. Jade contemplates saying something nice, but then she remembers that 'nice' really isn't her thing. Her shoulders lift in a nonchalant shrug as she strides past the brunette.

"Whatever. Just come with me now."

And Tori does, trudging after Jade with a queasy feeling in her stomach.

_**x.X.x**_

The day went by slower than Tori would have liked. Jade and her didn't talk at all, their argument from earlier still resting heavy in their bones. Immediately after Jade and Cat finished their scene, the pale girl walked to her car and started her way to the hospital. Now, with the radio faintly playing in the background and Jade concentrated with driving, Tori decides to speak up.

"I'm really sorry if I annoyed you earlier."

Her voice cut through the tense air in the car like a knife and made Jade glance over to the brunette for a short second. "It's alright," she calmly says and keeps her eyes steady on the street in front of her. Tori tries again.

"I just don't want you to… feel obligated."

"I don't," Jade sighs and shakes her head, "Listen. If I don't want to do something, I won't do it. I can make decisions for myself. And I know that you are a selfless weirdo who likes to look out for others but… just don't. Not with me."

Tori nods. "Okay." Her eyes flicker over Jade's face, her teeth biting down on her lip. "So… we're fine again?"

Jade's lips form a barely visible smile. "Sure."

They mostly stay silent for the remaining ride but this time, it's much more comfortable. The air isn't so tense anymore, there's no fear on Tori's side anymore that she did something seriously wrong. When they arrive at the hospital and Jade turns off the engine, the pale girl takes a deep breath and turns towards Tori. "Ready?"

Tori hesitates for a second before she nods and a slight smile appears on her face. "I think so."

Jade smirks and opens her door. "Then let's go."

The feeling of having butterflies in her stomach arises in Tori as Jade and her step into the elevator, Jade's finger reaching out to press the button with the '4' on it. If she's lucky and the spell will really work, today could be the day when she'd get back into her body. Sure, the likelihood of the success of a spell they got from the internet is pretty slim, but it really doesn't keep Tori from hoping that maybe, it _will_ work. Tori follows Jade out of the elevator, down the hall and finally, they step into Tori's room. "Seems as if we're lucky," Jade quietly says as she steps closer to the sleeping body of Tori, "We're alone." She turns to her ghostly companion and raises her eyebrows. "Let's start before your mom or someone else will come." Tori takes a deep breath and nods, walking over to the other side of the bed and looking down at her own self. Her eyes stay glued on her body, her ears taking in the crumpling of paper and then, Jade's smooth voice reading the spell. The rhymed words flow so easily from Jade's mouth and for a moment, Tori really thinks it worked. But as she looks up at Jade and sees her looking at her with a bored expression, Tori realizes that that stupid spell was a waste of time.

A shaky sigh gets past Tori's lips. "Great," she mumbles and takes a seat on the side of her bed.

"Sorry," Tori hears Jade say from behind her. The brunette lets out a laugh and shakes her head. "Don't be. God, I feel so stupid for thinking that it might work. I mean, what was I thinking?"

Jade crosses her arms and presses her lips together. She's never good with comforting people. She ends up saying something really stupid every time and only makes the situation worse. Nevertheless, she walks around the bed until she's standing in front of Tori. The brunette's sad brown eyes look up at her. "I wish I could-" Jade stops herself from saying anything else which only pricks at Tori's curiosity.

"You wish you could… what?" Tori stands up from the bed, her eyes not leaving Jade's and once again, that electrical feeling arouse between them. They stare at each other, Jade's tongue running over her lips before she releases a quiet breath. "I don't know," her quiet voice sends a shiver through Tori's body and her mind travels back to her thoughts about Jade she had this morning. Again she wonders what it would be like, what would have happened between them if the spell had worked. She wondered how it would feel like to touch Jade and it scares her a little that she has those thoughts. "I just really wanted you to get back into your body," Jade confesses and Tori swears she saw her eyes flick down to her lips for a millisecond.

But before Tori has the chance to say anything, the door opens and Jade's eyes widen when they fall on a police officer standing in the doorway. "Jade West?"

* * *

_A/N: Sorry for the wait. But I've been having a little writer's block with this one. I hope the next chapter will be up sooner._


	8. Chapter 8

_But before Tori has the chance to say anything, the door opens and Jade's eyes widen when they fall on a police officer standing in the doorway. "Jade West?"_

"Uh, I… yeah?"

The dark-haired man smiles at her and steps closer, holding out his hand. "I'm David. My wife has told me about you."

"Your… wife?" He nods and only when she takes a quick glance at Tori and sees her smiling at her, does she realize who is standing in front of her. A relieved breath shoots out of her mouth as she turns her head back to David, smiling slightly. "Oh, you're Tori's dad."

He laughs and nods his head. "Yes. I'm sorry if the uniform put you off a little. I just got off work." Jade nods, a slightly uncomfortable smile playing on her lips as she turns towards Tori's body. "I actually hoped I would meet you," David quietly says and walks to the opposite side of the bed to sit down on the chair standing there. He smiles at the confused look on Jade's face. "My wife told me… you met Tori shortly before she… got into that accident."

"Yeah. I did."

"She also told me that you seemed…" He bites his lip and slightly shakes his head, his eyes narrowed as he searches for the right way to put it. "Well… _affected_, by Tori being in a coma."

Jade's mouth opens as she thought about what to answer to that. She seemed affected? What does that even mean? She quickly shoots a look at Tori, who just bites her lip and shrugs her shoulders. Her eyes turn back to Mr. Vega, his face taking on a curious expression. "Well… I really…" Jade frowns and looks down at Tori's unconscious body. Maybe she should just tell him the truth. "I care… about her. Maybe even more than I should, given the fact that… we only know each other for… not that long."

It's a weird sensation, admitting her feelings like this and knowing that Tori is standing right beside her. Jade thinks that maybe the brunette assumes she's acting again, telling her father a false story just like she did with her mother, but when Jade glances over at her, she knows that Tori takes her seriously. A warm smile plays on her lips and slight surprise is mixed within her brown eyes. Clearing her throat and fighting the arising blush, Jade snaps her eyes back to Tori's dad, who's still curiously staring at her. After a couple of seconds, he smiles and turns to look at his daughter. "You know, I don't think it's important how long you and Tori know each other. It's important that you care so much for her that you… come and visit her." A light smile creeps onto Jade's face but a frown takes over when she sees David's face darken a little bit, his eyes firmly glued to Tori's face.

"Um… are you alright, Mr. Vega?"

"Hm?" He looks up at her, his face almost troubled, but he quickly masks it with a laugh and a shake of his head. "Oh, yeah, yeah. I'm fine, just… you know… I get a little melancholic whenever I visit Tori."

Jade slowly nods and takes a look at Tori when Mr. Vega looks back to Tori's body. The brunette is frowning, her dad's behavior probably confusing her just as much as it does Jade. "Do you rather want me to go?" Jade asks after a long moment of silence, Tori's voice sounding in her ear. "I think something is wrong."

"No. No, of course not. You can stay for as long as you want." He smiles a sad smile and although it really puts her off a bit and she really doesn't feel all that comfortable, Jade stays, taking a chair from the corner of the room and placing it at Tori's bedside. They talk for a while, mostly about Tori, but also about Jade and Hollywood Arts. All the while, Tori sits on the edge of the bed, listening and watching as Jade and her father talk as if they know each other for years. When the door to the room squeaks open and a doctor comes in, all three heads turn to look at him. "Ah, Mr. Vega. I was hoping I'd still catch you," his eyes flick from David to Jade, a polite smile on his lips, "Could we… talk now?"

Jade moves her eyes back to Tori's dad, who takes a deep breath and nods his head. "Yes. Of course." He gets up from his seat, shoots Jade a smile and then follows the doctor out into the hallway.

"Um… I think I'm… going to see what the doctor wants," Tori slowly says as she too gets up and makes her way to the door, simply walking through it. Jade nods to herself and turns her attention towards Tori's body. She doesn't even look that sick. Sure, her skin is a little pale and the monitors connected to her body don't really look that appealing but other than that… she looks like she's just taking a really long nap. Hesitantly reaching out, Jade takes Tori's limp hand in hers, running her thumb over the soft skin. It's weird to think that, even though Jade is touching her, Tori isn't really here to feel it. A movement in the corner of her eye catches Jade's attention and she turns towards the door just in time to see Tori walking towards her.

"Jade, can we please go?"

Jade frowns at the brunette, letting go of the tan hand and turning towards Tori. She looks so shocked, her brown eyes wide. "Why? What's going on?"

"Please. I want to leave," Tori pleads, her shoulders sagged, "I don't want to stay anymore."

Alarmed by Tori's words, Jade stands up and quickly strides over to her. "What's wrong? Why are you so upset?" But Tori doesn't answer her. She just turns around and walks out of the door, without another word or some kind of explanation. With a silent curse Jade glances back at Tori's body, lingering for a second or two, before she storms out of the door, into the elevator and finally, to her car, where Tori was already waiting. "What's going _on_?"

The brunette stands rigid, her arms wrapped around her body, her lips pressed together so tightly, and her eyebrows scrunched up. "Tori." Jade's voice softens but the only thing she gets out of the brunette is a loud sob. Jade sighs loudly and looks around the parking lot for any onlookers, before turning her attention back on Tori. "You're really freaking me out right now. What the hell happened?"

The long pause that follows nearly drives Jade over the edge but then, Tori finally starts to speak. "The doctor said that-" Tori breaks off, her voice cracking. Closing her eyes, she takes a deep breath before she continues. "They want to turn off the life support."

A pang in her chest is really something Jade would have expected when listening to Tori talk about the possibility of death, but the way her throat constricts and tears start to form in her eyes seems just plain ridiculous to her. She's really not supposed to care so much for Tori, it's not how it was supposed to go. Tori wanted to get back into her body, Jade accepted to help her so that she would get her life back. And if she wouldn't be able to help Tori, then so what? She just wasn't important to Jade. But now, only thinking about the possibility of losing Tori – _losing Tori? What am I talking about?_ – is almost tearing her heart out.

"But your dad…" She swallows thickly and shakes her head, "He refused, right? I mean…"

A bitter laugh escapes Tori's mouth. "Well, as it turns out, my parents have been thinking about it for a while now." She looks down at her feet, shaking her head. "They're going to sign the papers. I'm going to die, Jade."

"I won't let that happen."

Tori's sad eyes move to look at Jade. The pale girl looks and sounds so determined about the whole thing that Tori really _wants _to believe her. But she knows that if her parents decide to turn off the machines, Jade wouldn't be able to do anything other than watch. "You can't stop them if they really decide to do it."

"But you're still alive, Tori," she laughs lightly and shakes her head, taking another step closer, "You are alive and you still have a chance to get back. I'm sure of it."

"It's easy for you to say. You can see me. You know that I'm here but my parents… don't. The only thing they see of me every day is my body just… lying around in this bed and… not reacting."

"Then I'm going to tell them that you're still here. That I can see you." The idea actually sounded pretty good in Jade's head, but when she sees the incredulous look on Tori's face, she really starts to doubt herself.

"God… _No_, Jade! Are you insane? They'll just think you're crazy."

"Who cares? Do you know how many people think I'm crazy? I've got no problem adding two more to the list. It's worth a shot."

"No. No, Jade." Tori sighs tiredly and closes her eyes. "Please, let's… talk about this later. Let's just go now. I need to get away from here."

With any other person Jade wouldn't have given in that easily, but this is Tori, and Tori knows what buttons to push, if the brunette was aware of that or not. Releasing a defeated breath, Jade nods and unlocks the car. "Okay. Then let's go."

_**x.X.x**_

"We really should talk about this," Jade urgently says, her fingers fiddling with her car keys.

Tori slowly sinks onto the sofa in the living room. Brown eyes look straight ahead, Tori's face void of any emotion. "I don't want to talk about it," she whispers. Jade lets out a sigh, her arms falling to her sides. "Tori… you can't ignore this," she takes a seat besides Tori, twisting her body to face the brunette, "We have to do something."

"And what would you suggest?"

"Well, I still think I should tell your parents-"

"No."

"Tori, it's-"

"No," she forcefully pushes out and snaps her head towards Jade, "I don't want that. Respect that, please." Jade nods slowly and takes a look around the room. Tori's stubbornness irks Jade quite a bit but she knows that it would probably be the stupidest thing arguing with the brunette in this situation. She turns her attention back to Tori, looking at her as she starts to play with her fingers. "Okay, well… what is your plan then?"

"I wish we would have met under different circumstances." Tori's random statement hangs in the air as a long silence washes over the two girls. Jade furrows her eyebrows, then asks "What?"

"I wish we would have met under different circumstances," Tori repeats with a smile and turns her gaze to Jade. Tori's eyes swirl with something Jade can't really put a finger on, so she just smiles slightly and decides to let Tori change the subject for the moment.

"Really? I don't. We would have never gotten along."

"Why do you think that?"

"I don't know," Jade quietly murmurs, leaning back on the sofa but not letting her eyes leave Tori's, "Just a feeling." Tori smiles bashfully and looks at her lap. "Besides, you're so happy and positive all the time," she smirks, leaning her elbow on the backrest and resting her head in her hand, "Plus, you don't like my friends. At least not… Andre."

Tori's eyes snap up, an embarrassed laugh escaping her mouth. "I don't… I didn't really mean that." The knowing smirk on Jade's face intensifies as Tori continues. "I was just," – _jealous_ – "unreasonable."

"Ah, well… You're forgiven."

Tori smiles and nods her head, looking back at her hands. A frown suddenly takes over and she looks back up at Jade. "Can we… just talk tonight? I mean, I don't want to… I don't want to think about it now. I just want to… talk to you. Get to know you better." Tori's hopeful gaze rests on Jade and like many times before, Jade can't say no to her this time either. She nods, although her head is telling her to push Tori into thinking about something to stop her parents from signing the papers. "Okay. Just for tonight."

Tori smiles. "It's just us."

"Just us. Nothing else."

The sparkle in Tori's eyes suddenly reappears, much to Jade's delight. "You know what I really want to do right now?"

"What?" Jade asks, narrowing her eyes in mock suspicion.

"I really, really want to hug you."

A light laugh echoes through the room. "Well, too bad, hm? Not possible. Anything else?"

Tori hesitates, biting her lip. "Will you tell me about your mom?"

The relaxed expression on Jade's face abruptly falls and maybe, it was a mistake asking her about that. But when Tori watches her close her eyes and sigh, instead of lashing out at her like she did the last time, Tori relaxes a bit. Jade's eyes open and after what feels like an eternity of silence between them, she nods slowly. She takes a deep breath and starts to talk because she knows that maybe… she won't have the opportunity to tell Tori about her mom if she waits any longer.

Maybe Tori would be gone soon.


	9. Chapter 9

When Jade opens her eyes the next morning, her heart almost stops when her gaze falls on Tori lying next to her. "You're still here," Jade breathes as a greeting, to which Tori turns her head to face her. Tori's lips lift in a soft smile. "Of course I am. Good morning."

"Hi," Jade pushes out as she sits up and runs a hand through her hair. "So?"

Tori watches her and frowns. "So… what?"

A tired sigh is pushed out of Jade's mouth, her head coming to rest against the headboard of her bed. "What are we going to do?"

Tori's face immediately darkens and she looks away from Jade, her jaw muscles twitching as she harshly bites her teeth together. "Tori, I gave you time to… _not _think about it. But we really have to talk about it now."

"I'm just scared," Tori mumbles eventually after a long silence passed between the two girls, her eyes fixed on her fiddling fingers. The brunette's words don't really come as a surprise to Jade, of course she is scared, it's only normal in a situation like this. But Tori's avoidance of the subject and refusal of thinking of a solution for her problem astonishes Jade quite a bit.

"I know, Tori. But do you really want to die?"

Tori's head snaps towards her, an incredulous look on her face. "Of course not!"

"Well, then," Jade shrugs her shoulders and throws the blanket off of her, getting up and looking at Tori with raised eyebrows, "Stop being so closed off and start fighting."

Tori scoffs and shakes her head. "You are so insensitive."

"So what if I am? At least I try to think of ways to keep you alive!" Her voice grows louder even though Jade really doesn't want it to and Tori shoots up from the bed, angry eyes looking into Jade's. An argument is really the last thing they need, but neither one of them cared right now.

"Oh yeah? And what would that be, huh?"

"Uh, maybe what I told you yesterday?" Jade waits with raised eyebrows for a reaction but all Tori does is furrow her eyebrows and cross her arms. "Tell your freaking parents," she continues loudly and the eye roll she gets from Tori doesn't surprise her at all.

"I told you, I don't want that! How stubborn can you be?"

"How stubborn can _you _be?" Jade's feet make quick progress of walking around her bed until she's standing right in front of the difficult acting girl. Only now does Jade see a thin layer of tears shading her eyes but she's already too far gone to stop yelling, the still lingering sleepiness and the anger that Tori's stubbornness sparks in her taking over Jade's brain. "It's probably the _only _chance you have! How much of an idiot are you?"

Tori's eyes widen in hurt but Jade keeps going. "Stop acting like a whiny child and face your fears, okay? Pull yourself together and stop trying to pretend that things aren't happening! Stop being so damn afraid of facing reality!"

"Well, I'm sorry that I'm scared of the fact that I'm _dying_!" Her sentence ends with a loud sob and she lifts her hand to cover her mouth, her tears now finally spilling over.

"You don't need to be scared of anything, Tori! Nothing will happen to you, nothing _can _happen to you! Not if you do something!"

"Oh no? It's not like I can just crawl back in and everything is good again!" Tori turns around, swiftly walking out of Jade's room, the only thing she wants to get away from the pale girl. But Jade isn't that easy to shake off. "Where are you going now?"

"I don't know? Maybe somewhere where I don't get yelled at!"

"So you're just going to give up?" Jade asks with an incredulous laugh, causing Tori to turn around and face her. "Didn't think you were the quitter type."

"I'm not giving up," Tori grumbles with narrowed eyes, "I just know when it's over."

"Oh. I get it. You just stopped fighting for what you wanted the most. I'm sorry, of course _that's_ completely different. My bad."

"Life isn't about what you _want_, Jade. It's about what you get. And you just have to deal with it, whether you like it or not."

"I'm not going to accept that."

"Why do you even care? Be happy, you don't need to put up with me anymore."

"But I _want_ to put up with you!" she shouts exasperated. Jade's words echo around the hallway, bouncing off every wall and repeating over and over in Tori's head. The brunette frowns, staring at Jade. "What?"

"God, Tori, are you really that dense? You _heard_ what I told your father! I _care_ about you! I may hate that and believe me, I officially declare myself insane for falling for a ghost, especially for such a whiny one like you, but that doesn't change the fact that I really do care about you!"

"You… fell… for me?"

Brown eyes look at Jade full of wonder and Jade shifts from one foot to the other, the confession that bubbled out of her mouth without any forewarning mixed with Tori's reaction to it making her slightly uncomfortable. "Let's… Let's not talk about this right now. There are more important things we have to deal with."

Tori nods her head almost dazedly, her eyes still fixed on Jade who shifts from one foot to the other, avoiding Tori's eyes at all costs. The previous anger that roared between them is suddenly completely gone, the yelling and shouting now history. Quick footsteps jogging up the staircase catches both Tori and Jade's attention and they turn around, only to see Jade's dad – like always, dressed in a suit – looking at Jade with a raised eyebrow. "What's going on here? I heard you yelling."

Jade sighs, closes her eyes and shakes her head. "Nothing, dad." She opens her eyes again and shrugs her shoulders. "I was just…" She fishes for words but can't come up with a convincing story, so she just rolls her eyes and shrugs her shoulders again. "It's nothing. Sorry to have bothered you."

Without another word, she turns around and walks back into her room, closing the door behind her and plopping down onto her bed. Tori follows not too long after, walking through the closed door with her fingers fiddling again and her eyes carefully watching Jade's every move. "I still don't want you to tell my parents that you can see me, Jade," she states quietly and Jade looks up from her lap, "I just don't want them to see you any differently than they _should _see you."

Jade lifts her lips in a bitter smile and pushes a breath out of her nose. She shakes her head and looks away from Tori. "And how _should _they see me?"

"The way I do." Jade's eyes travel back to Tori, who takes a deep breath. "The nice and gentle side of you. They see a girl in you, that deeply cares for their daughter, even though she doesn't even know her that well. I want them to see you that way." Tori nods, then breathes out a laugh. "I don't want them to think you have a mental problem."

"I wouldn't care," Jade weakly argues, swallowing away the disappointment and hurt she was feeling.

"I know you wouldn't. But I would."

A heavy silence falls over them, with neither one of them wanting or knowing what to say. Thoughts wildly race around in Jade's head, ideas of convincing Tori's parents not to sign, but none of them really sound like a good plan. After a while of just sitting on her bed and Tori still standing in front of her, Jade takes a deep breath and quietly says "I'm going to drive to your house later. I'll try to talk to your parents _without_ telling them that I can see you."

"No, Jade. Not today."

Jade's eyebrows crease and she looks up at the brunette. "What? Why _not_ today?"

Tori smiles. "Your song. Andre wants to come over today, remember?"

Jade starts to splutter out a string of incoherent words as she struggles to understand what Tori was saying. She's probably going to _die _soon and all she wants is for Jade to work with Andre on their song? It's the most ridiculous thing, at least to Jade. "I'm going to cancel, of course," she eventually brings out, "Tori, your life kinda depends on me, you know."

"I swear, if you're going to cancel because of me _again_, I am going to destroy your favorite scissors, and if that still doesn't help, I'm going to drag you into the afterlife with me," Tori deadpans but Jade couldn't really see the humor in her words. At all.

"Tori-"

"No, Jade, please," Tori pleads, shaking her head, "We still have time, okay?"

Jade hesitates but then slowly nods, resulting in a smile to form on Tori's face. This… _Everything_ was just too much to handle, it's too overwhelming and the mix of feelings swirling around inside of her aren't making it any easier. "Good," Tori sighs and tears her eyes away from Jade to take a look around the room. "Well… I'm going to go for a walk and… come back later… so…"

"Fine."

Tori nods and looks at Jade one last time before disappearing out of the door.

_**x.X.x**_

Andre finishes their composed tune on his keyboard, dark expectant eyes looking up at Jade. "What do you think? Sounds good?"

He frowns when she doesn't react, reaching over and poking her arm. "Jade?"

"What?" She blinks a couple of times and moves her gaze away from her empty bed, instead settling it on Andre. "What did you say?"

"Where are you with your head, Jade?" His voice lacks any trace of annoyance but is instead laced with pure worry. Jade swallows, shakes her head and looks down at her lap. Tori has been gone for nearly six hours and it drives her insane, not knowing where she is, not knowing if she's even still there. Frowning, she looks back up at her friend.

"I'm worried about a friend," she simply says and watches Andre lean back as he processed the info. "About what friend?"

"You don't know her. But she promised to… call me and she didn't and now I'm just really… really worried. Maybe something happened." She looks at him and hopes that he believes her. Technically she was telling the truth, she was just hiding the fact that her friend is a ghost.

Andre is quiet for a long moment before he asks "Do you want to make sure she's okay? I mean, we can stop for today. We'll keep working on it tomorrow." His words bring a wave of relief to wash over her and Jade smiles, nodding her head. "Yes, that would be… that would be great, Andre."

He shrugs and gets up, gathering his things together. "Okay. No problem." He clamps his keyboard under his arm but stops for a moment to observe Jade. "You act really different lately. You… smile more often, somehow." Jade stays quiet and Andre takes it as his cue to leave. He stops at the door though and turns back to Jade. "Does it have anything to do with that friend of yours?"

Jade opens her mouth to deny that but she thinks it over one more time, before saying "Maybe."

"Well, I already like that friend," he smiles and waves at her before walking out and going home. Jade waits until she's sure his car is gone from the driveway before she snatches her keys and walks out, quickly making her mind up.

Tori's parents are getting a visit.

_**x.X.x**_

Jade knocks lightly before pushing the door to Tori's hospital room open. She doesn't know where Tori's parents live so she just hoped they would be at the hospital and thankfully, they are.

"Jade?" Holly smiles slightly when she sees her standing in the doorway, tilting her head. "Come on in. It's nice to see you again."

With hesitant steps, Jade walks in and also sees David and a girl – probably Tori's sister – sitting by Tori's bed. "I'm Trina," the girl confirms not too kindly as she let her narrowed eyes scrutinize every detail of Jade. Jade gives her a light nod. "Jade." Trina nods but her wary eyes don't stray from Jade, giving her a once over. Ignoring the older Vega sister, Jade turns to David who smiles at her and gets up from his seat. "I'm really glad you came back, Jade. You just disappeared yesterday. I was a little confused."

"I know that you want to turn off Tori's machines." The words bubble out of her before Jade really realizes it and she hears David take in a sharp breath. Her eyes flick over to Holly who looks away from her, pressing her lips together.

"How did you find that out?" Mr. Vega's voice is soft, calm and Jade can't keep the anger from bubbling up at seeing him so… 'okay' with the situation. "Does that really matter?" She asks with furrowed eyebrows and watches Mr. Vega look down. "How can you even think about that? She's your daughter, you can't just give up on her like that!"

Jade quickly pushes past him and takes a look at the lifeless body lying in the hospital bed, before whirling back around. "She's alive! You should fight for her, instead of… getting rid of her!"

"This… we're not getting _rid_ of her," he calmly explains and takes a step closer to the upset girl, "It's the best for Tori."

"No, but… you _can't_ do this," she says with a light laugh, "Listen, I… This is not an option, okay? If you let them turn those machines off, you will kill her."

"Jade," Tori's dad says with a sigh and lifts a hand to rub his neck, "This was a hard choice for us. We didn't take this lightly, believe me. But Tori, she's…"

"She's not dead! There's still brain activity, isn't there?"

"Yes, but the doctors think-"

Mr. Vega's voice suddenly drowns out as Jade's eyes fall on Tori standing behind her father, her quiet voice reaching her ears. "Jade. What are you doing here?" Without breaking eye contact Tori walks closer, past her dad, until she's standing right in front of the raven haired girl. "It's over. You shouldn't be here. We can't do anything anymore."

An idea pops into Jade's head and she quickly turns towards Mr. Vega. "What if I can prove it? What if I can prove that she's still alive, still _here_."

David stops talking and lets his confused gaze rest on Jade. "Sweetheart… I don't…" He trails off, confusedly watching the girl in front of him. Jade opens her mouth but Tori's voice stops her. "Jade, don't. Please, I don't want this. They won't believe you, they'll think you're crazy."

"Tori," Jade breathes, but the brunette wouldn't let her argue.

"No. Please. If you… If you care for me just the slightest bit…" Her pained eyes travel all over Jade's face. "You don't tell them anything. I don't want it to be any harder for them than it already is."

"Jade? Are you okay?" At the sound of David's voice Jade reluctantly moves her eyes away from Tori and only when she looks at the dark haired man, who looks back at her with so much worry, does Jade realize that she's actually crying. Her mouth opens but nothing wants to come out. David sighs and steps closer, his hands gently coming to rest on Jade's forearms. "It is… _so_ hard, I know that. But this is not a life anymore. Tori doesn't deserve that, don't you think? We have to let go, sweetheart."

"I know she doesn't deserve it, but… she doesn't deserve to die either." Her eyes travel to Tori once again. "I can't let go of her. Not yet."

Mr. Vega says something but Jade isn't listening, her eyes locked with Tori's. Her brown eyes are filled with unshed tears as she shakes her head. "I can still feel her," Jade quietly murmurs, her words dedicated to Mr. Vega but her eyes not leaving Tori.

"Jade… I think it's better if you go home now." David's voice sounds in her ear and Jade reluctantly turns towards him. "You need to… let it sink in. Just… let me drive you home."

Sniffling, Jade shakes her head. "No."

"Jade-"

But she doesn't let him finish. Not taking a look back, she storms out of the room. When she finally gets out of the hospital, she takes a large gulp of air, lifts her hand to wipe her eyes and ignores every look she gets. She can't take it anymore and she doesn't _want _to. As if in a daze, she finds herself in her car, driving out of the parking lot with David's words bouncing around in her head. _"We have to let go, sweetheart."_

It keeps repeating and repeating, until she almost starts to believe it. Maybe she has to let go, maybe it's the only way. Maybe Tori is supposed to die. But no, Tori wouldn't have found her if she really was _supposed _to die. There has to be a reason why Jade is the only one who can see her.

With her teeth clenched together and determination replacing the defenselessness and fear she felt just seconds ago, Jade steps harder on the gas pedal, her thoughts with Tori and her eyes not seeing the red stoplight in front of her...

* * *

_A/N: Oooh. You probably didn't expect that ending, did ya? _

_And what's the deal with Jade's mom? Well, you still don't know. Hm. Guess that's something for another chapter.  
_


	10. Chapter 10

There's pain. So much pain.

Her head pounds, her limbs seem to be on fire and she can't form a single coherent thought. Everything just hurts so much. Something is heavily pushing down on her chest, almost crushing her ribcage, she's sure about that, because it's so, so hard to breathe.

"_Jade? Jade, do you hear me?"_

There's a voice, a man's voice but she doesn't know who it is. It sounds as if… is she under water? No, it can't be. The blare of a siren reaches her ears but Jade can't figure out where the sound is coming from or if it's even there at all. She tries to open her eyes but it just _hurts_ and she doesn't know if she can do it. This smell that drifts up her nose… wait. Why does she smell blood? What's happening? Despite the searing pain that shoots through her entire body, Jade manages to crack her eyes open, but immediately gets the urge to close them again. She flinches. The lights are so bright but then a blurry figure appears in front of her vision and blocks the abnormal brightness from hitting her pupils. _"Jade," _he says her name, again in that weird under water voice, _"are you in pain?"_

She can't nod her head, the pain way too strong but she doesn't want to talk either, it's just way too exhausting. But it hurts so much and she wants it to go away. "Yes." Her voice must be barely audible but the man seems to understand her. She sees him nod before she lets her eyes drift shut again.

Something descends onto her mouth at the same time as something cool shoots up her arm and she snaps her eyes open again, despite the pain, panicking. She tries to move but she just can't and then, the bubbling voice of the man sounds again. _"Don't move. Everything is fine. We'll help you."_

She lets her body relax, welcoming the oxygen that freely flows into her mouth and nose. Something flickers in the corner of her eye and with great effort she tries to look what it is. "I'm here, Jade." It's Tori – _oh thank God, Tori _– and she's smiling at her, that beautiful smile. Worry creases her forehead and her eyes try not to let the fear show she must be feeling. Jade's mouth tries to form words, anything, to let her know that she's so happy she's here but nothing comes out. Tori, noticing her struggle, steps closer to her. "Don't." Unlike the man's voice, Tori's is so much clearer. "Just relax, okay? You are going to be fine."

She starts to blur, the lines of her body barely there anymore and Jade would think she's imagining things if Tori wouldn't look so damn scared all of sudden. The brunette looks down at her body that gets more and more translucent by every second ticking by. Her wide brown eyes snap up, and even through her pain filled haze Jade can see the horror in them. "Jade, what's happening?"

It's the last thing Jade hears before she falls into pitch black darkness.

_**x.X.x**_

The faint sound of a door closing reverberates in her ears, so loud, that Jade thinks her eardrums might burst. Then, there's shuffling beside her. Her eyes seem to be stapled shut as she tries to open them and she stops trying, settling for just lying there. The pain she was feeling earlier is almost completely gone, but a tight soreness still remains. But what exactly had happened? She tries to think back but there's nothing. She can't remember a single thing but then, everything comes rushing back. _Her foot pushed down on the brakes but it was too late. The car hit her side, her ears taking in the screeching of the tires and then, metal clanking on metal. She flew forward and all air got knocked out of her body and there was so much pain all of sudden, as her head hit something hard and glass all around her shattered. Soon enough, everything went black._ Right. She had been in an accident. And then… she woke up again and there was so much pain _everywhere_. Tori was there too but then… she disappeared.

Tori's gone.

Jade's heart pumps faster as she remembers Tori's fear stricken voice, her panicked eyes looking at her as her body faded away. _"Jade, what's happening to me?"_ It's the last thing she can remember but it's not helping her, she has to know what had happened to Tori. Her lungs take in as much air as they can, despite the piercing pain that shoots up her chest, and after taking together all of her strength, Jade opens her eyes. She has to blink various times to bring the spinning room in focus but when she finally manages, a flash of bright red is the first thing she sees.

"Jade?"

_Cat._

"Are you okay?"

She sounds scared, she _looks _scared out of her mind, and Jade doesn't think she could handle it if she'd say she isn't okay. Jade slightly nods her head and watches Cat puff out a shaky breath. "I really was so worried. We all were. I'm so glad you finally woke up." Her wide brown eyes look to the door, then back at Jade. "I should probably tell your dad you woke up."

"I'm fine," she croaks out but a coughing fit immediately takes over her body, her chest heaving and pricking as if a thousand needles sink into her skin, and her dry throat burning. Cat quickly gets up and retrieves the water bottle from the little table next to the bed. After pouring some into a glass, she helps Jade prop herself up a bit so she could drink. It felt like heaven, the water lapping at her dry throat, cooling it and easing the pain. She lies back down and closes her eyes. "Tori…" Fatigue quickly takes over her body again but Jade won't go to sleep, she has to know what happened.

Cat's eyebrows knit together, her head tilting. "What?"

"I need to see her," Jade breathes, her eyelids getting too heavy for her to open them, "I need to make sure she's okay."

"Who?"

"Tori. I can't just let her go, Cat. I need her to be here with me. She can't go away. I need her." A cool hand touches Jade's forehead and smoothes her hair back.

"Go to sleep, Jade. You're exhausted."

And even if she wants to, she doesn't have the strength to fight Cat, so sleep wins once again.

_**x.X.x**_

The next time Jade wakes up, everything is so much clearer.

This time, Andre and Robbie sit by her side, both brightly smiling when they see that she opened her eyes. "Hey! Look who finally awoke from her beauty sleep," Andre chirps while taking her hand in his large one.

"Not that she needs a beauty sleep," Robbie butts in, "Jade is always such a feast for the eye."

A light laugh fights its way through Jade's throat, and a smile tugs at Andre's lips too as he shakes his head in amusement at Robbie's bizarre way of complementing. In a much quieter voice and with a soft smile Robbie asks "How are you feeling?"

Jade shifts a little to get more comfortable before answering him, her voice raspy. "Better than the last time I woke up." She looks around until her eyes come to rest on a water bottle, reaching for it.

"I got it," Andre interferes, grabbing the bottle and pouring her a glass before handing it to her. "Well, you've been out for two weeks before you woke up yesterday, no wonder you felt weird." Jade chokes a little but quickly composes herself. Did he say two weeks? Andre looks at her cautiously. "Everything okay? Do you need the nurse?"

"No, I… Two weeks? That… that can't be. I wasn't…" she trails off, looks down at her lap and shakes her head. Two weeks that means… if something happened to Tori then she couldn't have done anything.

"Yes, you were. Your injuries were pretty bad and well…" Robbie shrugs before continuing, "Your body shut down until yesterday. But don't worry. You're going to be as good as new in a couple of days."

"Yeah," Andre agrees, "And until then, you'll have us, your personal entertainment crew."

"But I can't-"Her eyes widen and a pain filled gasp escapes her as a sharp sting shoots through her chest and ribs from sitting up so suddenly. Slightly getting dizzy, Jade welcomes the way Andre gently pushes her back down. "You have to go slowly, girl. You're still healing." His hand reaches around her body to make sure that the blanket is still securely tucked around Jade before he gets up from his chair. "I'll go tell the doctor you woke up. He probably wants to check up on you."

Jade watches him go before she turns her head towards Robbie, slightly shifting onto her side to face him more properly. "Robbie, come closer."

His eyebrows move together but he complies Jade's request, getting up from his seat to move to the chair Andre previously had occupied. He looks at her questioningly and Jade takes a deep breath, wincing slightly at the dull pain in her ribs at doing so. "I need you to do me a favor."

"Does it involve violence?"

"What?" Jade's eyebrows furrow. "No! No, it doesn't."

Robbie lets out a relieved breath and then nods. "Okay. What is it?"

"You have to go and search for a girl named Tori Vega. She's a patient here. Or better, search for her parents. If you find any of them, tell them they have to come see me, it's _really_ important. You got that?"

Robbie's confused expression only increases. "But why do you-"

"Just do it! Don't tell anyone about this, just…" She sighs and closes her eyes for a moment. This is her only chance of finding out where Tori is. Or… if she's still here at all. _She has to be._ Jade's eyes open again, her mouth releasing a sigh. "Please do it. I need to… find something out and they are the only ones who can help me."

The sound of the door opening catches both of their attention, their eyes falling on Andre and a man with grayish hair and a friendly smile, accompanied by a young nurse. "Ms. West," he nods, smiling at her, "I'm Doctor Gordon. How are you feeling?"

"Perfectly fine," she snaps with a glare, although the throbbing pain in her ribcage is telling a different story. The doctor doesn't seem fazed by Jade's attitude, only chuckling and taking a look at his clipboard.

"Well, I'd like to see for myself," he says and raises his eyebrows at Robbie and Andre, "Gentlemen, would you wait outside?"

"Oh, yeah sure," Andre nods and motions for Robbie to come with him. Shooting a look at the curly haired boy, Jade sees him pressing his lips together as he stands up, then, he looks at her and slightly nods his head before following Andre out of the room.

_**x.X.x**_

"Hiiii Jade!"

The cheerful redhead doesn't even bother to wait for Jade to say 'come in', instead she just barges through the door with a bright smile on her face. She skips over to Jade's bed, the big plastic bag she's carrying rustling with every move she makes. Before Jade can really do anything, Cat's arms wound themselves around her, squeezing and almost making her double over in pain. "Oh _God_, Cat let go! Let go of me!" A pained hiss escapes her mouth when Cat finally releases her, her ribcage throbbing with the erratic pain the little redhead had caused with her embrace. "Don't _hug _me!"

Cat's face takes on a look of confusion for a moment before her eyes widen in shock. "Oh my God! Did I hurt you? I'm so sorry, Jade. I'm just so happy you're awake."

It always had been a problem for Jade to stay mad at Cat, the way she looks at you with her big innocent eyes just hits you right in your heart and you can't do anything but forgive her. "Whatever," Jade mumbles dismissively and leans back in her bed, "It's fine."

The smile quickly returns to Cat's face and she takes a seat on the chair next to Jade's bed, her hands tightly clutching the plastic bag. "I've brought some gifts for you," she exclaims excitedly and reaches into the bag to pull something out.

Jade's eyebrows crease when her eyes fall on the round object in Cat's hands. "A coconut?"

"It's from Sikowitz! He said that coconut milk will bring you to your feet in no time! You should try it!" Jade slowly nods and takes the coconut from her hands, the soft hair tickling her palms. When Jade looks back at Cat, she sees her hesitate before pulling the next item out of her bag. "This is from Sinjin." She frowns as she holds up an old water bottle with a purple liquid in it. "He told me he mixed it especially for you. But," she pauses and Jade raises an eyebrow when Cat moves closer to her, almost whispering the last part, "I wouldn't drink it if I were you. Sinjin's kinda weird."

Cat shoots her a look and leans back, gently placing the bottle on the little table next to Jade's bed. Her face lights up again as she pulls the last gift out, a purple elephant. "This is from me! I thought you could need someone here with you, whenever you're alone! His name is Harry," she squeaks out and thrusts the elephant into Jade's face.

Taking the stuffed animal out of Cat's fingers, Jade gives it a light squeeze before forcing herself to shoot her best friend a smile. "Thanks. I appreciate it."

The next hour was spent with Jade listening to Cat chatter about her brother and his newest adventures, a visit from a nurse and Cat telling her about everything she's been missing in school lately.

"Well, and then Sikowitz threw the golf club out of the window." Cat sighs and lets out a little giggle. "It was funny."

"Hm. I can imagine." It's silent for a little while, with Cat having told Jade everything she's missed in the last two weeks and Jade not really in the mood to talk about anything. But sure enough, Cat finds a new topic for them.

"Say Jade… who is Tori?"

Jade freezes when Tori's name leaves Cat's lips, her head slowly turning towards the curious redhead. "How… Tori? Why do you ask?"

Cat takes a deep breath, shrugs her shoulders and innocently looks at Jade. "You were saying that when you woke up yesterday. That you wanted to see her." Her eyebrows crease together and she shakes her head. "But I don't know any Toris. Who is she?"

The urge to lie to Cat and tell her that she doesn't know what she's talking about or that she doesn't know why she even said Tori's name arises in Jade because, well, what should she tell her? 'Tori is the ghost I spent my time with before the accident, but she's most likely dead right now'? No, as much of a crazy person Cat could be sometimes, she would never believe that Jade had encountered some kind of lost soul. With no clue of what to say, Jade shakes her head when a knock sounds at the door and saves her from answering Cat's question. At least for now.

"Yeah, come in!"

The door opens to reveal Robbie sticking his head inside, awkwardly smiling at Jade. "Hey Jade. I've uh…" His eyes flick to Cat for a short moment before settling back on Jade. "I did what you wanted me to do and I think I... found someone."


	11. Chapter 11

_The door opens to reveal Robbie sticking his head inside, awkwardly smiling at Jade. "Hey Jade. I've uh…" His eyes flick to Cat for a short moment before settling back on Jade. "I did what you wanted me to do and I think I... found someone."_

She doesn't really know who _exactly _she expected to come through the door after Robbie stepped in. Tori. Tori's parents. Maybe even Trina. But when Jade's eyes take in the small frame of Angela, Tori's nurse, she feels her heart plummeting to her stomach. "Jade," she says with a smile and steps closer to the bed, "It's nice to see you again. How are you feeling?"

Jade can't help but be a little surprised that Angela still seems to remember her but the disappointment of not seeing any of the Vegas overpowers that. "I'm fine."

"I overheard this young man asking about the Vegas. I thought I might be able to help you." Jade nods, then snaps her eyes to Cat, who confusedly watches the scene in front of her.

"Cat, get out."

Jade's sharp words cause the redhead to turn her head towards her, her brows drawn together in utter confusion. "What?"

"Go home. Thanks for all that stuff. But I need to talk to the nurse in private now."

"Oh." Cat just nods and slowly gets up. "Okay. I'll see you later."

She hesitates for a moment before shooting Jade a small smile and instead of hugging her and risking of hurting her best friend again, Cat simply takes Jade's hand in hers and gives it a tight squeeze. Jade watches her walk out of the door, then moves her gaze to Robbie who's still standing by the door, rocking back and forth on his heels with his hands clasped together in front of him. "Robbie…" He looks at Jade completely oblivious and Jade raises a single eyebrow at him. His eyes widen comically as he realizes what Jade wants from him.

"Oh! Oh! You want me to go too?" Jade shoots him a sarcastic smile and Robbie quickly nods. "Alright. I'm gone. Bye!" He waves and disappears out of the door, leaving Jade and Angela by themselves.

"So?" Jade quickly turns towards Angela, who takes a seat on the side of Jade's bed. The woman raises her eyebrows but Jade doesn't let her any room to question her. "Is Tori still here? Is she still in a coma? Her parents didn't take her off life support, did they? I mean… they didn't, right?" Her mouth snaps shut and she shakes her head at the flood of question that shot out of her mouth. When Angela looks down at her hands however, Jade's eyes widen. "Tori… Is she dead?"

The nurse looks up and when she sees the horrified look on Jade's face she quickly reaches for the young girl's hand. Tears start to form in Jade's eyes, although she really tried to hold them back. "She's not dead, Jade."

Time seems to stand still as Jade replays Angela's words in her head, over and over again. _She's not dead. _A deep breath rushes out of her mouth in relief and Jade ignores the ache in her ribcage. "She's not dead?"

"No, honey. She's not."

Jade smiles but the relief she's feeling quickly turns into puzzlement, her smile dropping and her eyebrows furrowing. "But… but I saw her and the next moment she… disappeared and I thought she was-" Realizing what she just said and seeing the confused look on Angela's face, Jade stops talking. "I mean, I… her parents didn't take her off life support?"

Angela shakes her head and sighs. "No. They wanted to. There wasn't any hope anymore. At least that's what the doctors said." She rolls her eyes and leans towards Jade, her voice lowering. "To be completely honest, I think Tori's doctor was just getting tired of looking after her. I mean, if there really was no hope anymore, why did she wake up?" She shakes her head and sits up straight again, completely unaware of the way Jade's mouth fell open and her eyes widened. "But what do I know."

"Wait, wait, wait." Angela snaps her eyes to Jade, waiting for her to continue. But Jade just stares at her suspiciously, blinking rapidly. "You want to tell me that… I mean if… Tori woke up?"

A smile breaks out on the nurse's face and she nods her head. "Yes, she did. It was so sudden and her sister and mother were with her. So much for 'there's no hope anymore'."

So that's the reason why she just disappeared. Tori got back into her body. She finally did it. But if she woke up… where was she now? "So, she woke up. That means… she's fine. Is she still here?"

Angela shakes her head. "No. She was admitted to a rehabilitation center because of her leg and to strengthen her muscles in general. She didn't move for over a year, she has to get used to it again."

"Right. Of course." Jade's mind takes her back to the last time she saw Tori, the way her body became almost transparent in front of her eyes and wonders if Tori remembered her when she woke up. If she did, she should have known that she was in an accident, right? "Did Tori… did she say anything?"

The confusion on the older woman's face is obvious. "What do you mean?"

Jade sighs and shrugs her shoulders. "I don't know, did she say… anything? Maybe about me?"

"Oh," Angela nods with furrowed eyebrows as she thinks about Jade's question, "No, I don't think she did."

Jade nods, sucks her lip in and leans back. After everything they've went through together, the least Tori could have done is make sure she's okay. She _knew_ that Jade had been in an accident, she had seen her lying there with pain radiating from every part of her body and she didn't think it was necessary to see if she's fine?

"Well, I have to go back to work now, Jade," Angela slowly says but Jade doesn't react, not even looking at the older woman. Pressing her lips together, Angela tries to think of something to say, anything to soothe the young girl's disappointment. But she doesn't really know why she's _that _upset about Tori so she settles for simply saying goodbye and leaving Jade alone in her room.

With only silence surrounding her and the sun already setting outside of her window, Jade finds herself thinking about reasons why Tori didn't say anything or why she didn't make sure she's still alive. She was in an accident for god's sake, she could have _died_. Didn't that occur to the brunette? Was Jade only a useful tool for Tori, which she quickly discarded when she got back into her body? Probably, Jade thinks as she lets out a shallow laugh at how stupid she has been this entire time. She fell in love with someone who wasn't even the slightest bit interested in her, who just used her to get her life back.

With that thought swimming around in her head, Jade lays down, chiding herself for being so naïve.

_**x.X.x**_

Tori stuffs her hands into the pockets of her jacket, smiling at a young man passing her in the little park behind the rehabilitation center Tori called her home for over a week now, and approaches a bench. She sits down and the smile on her face completely drops. Images of blue, almost grayish eyes take a hold of her brain again, almost taunting her. She keeps seeing this girl with black hair, green streaks running through her hair lightening up the otherwise dark exterior of the pale girl. She keeps popping up in her head but Tori has no clue why. She doesn't know her, at least… she thinks she doesn't. Her dreams consist of only her, of these eyes, of her _voice_. And every time Tori wakes up she gets the feeling that this girl isn't just a figment of her imagination. No, she knows her but she can't even remember what her name was or from where she knew her.

Tori sighs and stretches her legs out in front of her, tipping her head back and closing her eyes. "Maybe it has something to do with the accident," she mumbles to herself as suddenly, a shadow blocks the sun from her face. Snapping her eyes open, she sees Trina standing behind her, her arms crossed and a single eyebrow raised. "What has to do with the accident?"

"Trina. What are you doing here?" The older Vega smirks and rounds the bench, leaning down to give her sister a hug before sitting down beside her. "Visiting my baby sister. How are you doing?"

"Fine." She smiles and pats her right leg. "Therapy's going well. It's almost as good as new."

"Uh huh," Trina mutters unbelievingly, "Don't get ahead of yourself, sis. It's going to take a while until it's completely fine again." Tori nods, looking down at the ground. "So what has to do with the accident?"

Tori's head snaps up, her eyes looking into the face of a curious Trina. She has to take a moment to figure out what her sister meant, then she smiles and shakes her head. "Oh, that. Nothing. I was just thinking and," she frowns and shrugs her shoulders, "you know."

"Hm. No, I don't know. I never know what's going on in that little head of yours." Tori rolls her eyes but a smile stays on her lips. "But you know you can talk to me, right?" Trina's voice is soft and Tori turns her head towards her, her sister looking at her with clear concern. "If something's bothering you, you can talk to me. I'm here for you."

Tori smiles gratefully and reaches for Trina's hand, giving it a light squeeze. "Thanks, but don't worry. Nothing's bothering me. Promise."

Still a little wary, Trina nods slowly, then shrugs her shoulders and leans back on the bench. "Well, if you say so." There's silence for a little while – a rare thing when you are with Trina. After a couple of minutes, Trina frowns and turns towards Tori. "Hey, by the way: Does this girl... Jade even _know_ you woke up?"

_Jade._

The name sends a shiver through Tori's entire body, her mind going into overdrive.

"_Are you a freaking stalker?"_

Tori squeezes her eyes, memories of Jade taking over her and rushing through her brain all at once.

"_Okay! I'll help you! But only because I want you to leave me alone."_

Help her? Help her with what?

"_What? I just wanted to see if I could touch you."_

_Touch me. She couldn't touch me. Her hand went right through my arm. _

Her hand squeezes Trina's hand, her brain almost exploding with every image, every sound that Tori remembers. She doesn't hear Trina's confused voice, asking her what's wrong, the only sound she hears is Jade's voice.

"_God, Tori, are you really that dense? You _heard_ what I told your father! I _care _about you! I may hate that and believe me, I officially declare myself insane for falling for a ghost, especially for such a whiny one like you, but that doesn't change the fact that I really do care about you!"_

She fell in love with her.

"_I can't let go of her. Not yet."_

Tori's eyes snap open, a gasp rushing out of her mouth. Jade. How could she forget who she was?

"Tori! Tori, what's wrong, you're scaring me!"

Tori slowly turns her head towards Trina, her older sister's face crumpled with worry and fear. Her eyes flick down to her hand, still tightly clutching Trina's, and she lessens her grip a bit, looking back up at her worried sister. "I'm… I'm sorry, I was just… it's not… I almost didn't know who…"

"Do you need a doctor? Are you in pain?"

"No," Tori shakes her head, "No, I'm fine. I'm sorry, I'm totally fine. It's just… Jade."

Trina narrows her eyes at her little sister. "What is with her?"

Tori's eyes widen, her head snapping over to Trina. "She was in an accident! She was… I don't know if she's okay!"

"What? How do you know she was in an accident?"

Trina is startled when Tori jumps up from the bench, her wide brown eyes looking at her full of fear. "I need to know if she's okay," she says, completely ignoring Trina's question and instead pulling at her sister's hand, "Come on. We have to call dad."


	12. Chapter 12

The glass clinks down to the floor, shattering into pieces and making the water it contained splash all over the floor. In an attempt to keep her shoes from getting wet, Cat quickly pulls her feet back.

"God dammit!"

Lifting her eyes from the mess on the floor, Cat looks at an almost furious Jade. A scowl adorns her pale face as she angrily looks down at the wet floor and Cat wouldn't even be too surprised if steam would come out of her nose and ears at any second. "Don't worry. It was only a glass," she tries with a small voice but immediately shrinks away when Jade's angry gaze snaps to her.

She really doesn't like it when Jade is like this and she hates it even more if she doesn't even know what had _caused_ Jade's anger in the first place. Ever since Cat got here merely an hour ago, Jade had done nothing but snap at her even though Cat really doesn't know what she could have done wrong. "Yeah, it's _only_ a glass," Jade growls bitterly, turning to look straight ahead as Cat proceeds to carefully pick up the shards, "Just like I _only_ have feelings. Feel free to stomp on them, that's what they're there for!"

Cat's eyebrows crease in confusion and her eyes peer up at her best friend. "Oh, I didn't know that glass meant so much to you."

Her childlike voice lacks any joking undertone and sounds so serious that Jade almost wants to let out a laugh. But instead, she just turns to glare at Cat. "Just forget it," she murmurs lowly.

Cat lets out a sigh and gets up from the floor. The shards she picked up are neatly placed on the table next to Jade's bed and the water on the floor is poorly wiped up with tissues out of Cat's bag. "Why are you so cranky today?" The question sounds loudly in Jade's ear after a silence passed but the pale girl keeps her gaze fixed on the wall, completely ignoring the fact that Cat just asked her a question. "If I did something wrong," the redhead continues, almost causing Jade to groan in annoyance, "you can tell me. I mean… I don't really think I did something wrong but sometimes when my brother does something he isn't supposed to do, he doesn't think it's wrong. So maybe I did something but don't really-"

"Would you _just_ shut up?"

Jade isn't yelling but her low voice and hard glare – still directed to the wall – is enough to make Cat stop talking. "I'm sorry," Cat whispers and looks at her lap, her fingers beginning to pick at the edge of her skirt.

Glancing over at her best friend and seeing her with hunched down shoulders makes Jade immediately regret treating her the way she does. Cat isn't her problem, Tori is. But_ Tori_ isn't here, she doesn't care that she could have died, so Cat became the target of Jade's anger, without having a clue. "You didn't do anything wrong," Jade quietly murmurs and turns to fully look at Cat. She waits until the redhead looks up at her before she continues. "It's just not a good day today."

Cat's eyebrows furrow and her lips twitch as she contemplates if it would be okay for her to say something or if Jade would immediately get mad again. Deciding to take the risk, Cat asks "Why isn't it a good day?"

Jade sighs. Tori isn't a ghost or… whatever she was in the first place anymore so Jade could openly tell Cat about her. But Cat is Cat, and Jade never spoke to her about anything serious. That's what Andre was there for. "I'm just… in pain." Jade watches as understanding dawns upon Cat as she takes in Jade's words.

"Well… maybe you should ask for some pain killers," Cat advises with great worry detectable in her voice, frowning when Jade shakes her head and tells her that it isn't that serious. "But I don't want you to fall back into a coma, Jade."

Jade looks at her weirdly and then lets out a chuckle. "That won't happen. I'm fine, believe me." She pauses for a moment before adding "But maybe you should go home now. I'm sure I just need a little rest."

Cat slowly nods and gets to her feet. Her bag is tightly clutched between her fingers as she just stands at Jade's bedside for a moment, letting worried eyes roam all over Jade's face and body. "But… if you feel worse then… call the doctor. See," her pointer finger points to the little red button just over Jade's head, "you just have to push that button and-"

"I know that, Cat. Don't worry, I'm not going to die."

The worry Cat was showing for her is almost ridiculous but at the same time heartwarming to Jade. She watches Cat cringe at the word 'die' before she lets out a deep sigh. "Okay. But if you need company you can call me, alright?"

"Alright."

A small smile lights up Cat's face as she waves goodbye and walks out of the door, leaving Jade alone with her mind completely filled with Tori.

_**x.X.x**_

"I can't believe you didn't tell her I woke up!"

David's eyebrows shoot up when he hears the loud tone of his youngest daughter's voice coupled with an angry glare in his direction. Tori is standing in front of him with her arms crossed and eyebrows drawn down in an angry frown and suddenly, David feels like _he_ is the child in the family. "Tori," he begins carefully, "She just disappeared from one moment to the next and-"

"That's because she was in an _accident_," Tori almost shouts, exasperated, and throws her arms up. "She would have come back! There is now way that she would have just let you guys turn off the life support."

"Honey, I-"

He suddenly stops speaking, his eyebrows creasing as he lets Tori's words replay in his head. "Wait a second. How do you even know that Jade was in an accident?"

_Crap._ "Um… well, because…" Trina asked her the same question a couple of times but when she saw how upset Tori was, she let it go. Her dad's curious eyes watch her every move but Tori knows this isn't the time to panic or get nervous. Jade. Right now is all about Jade. She sighs aggravated and shakes her head. "I just do. And it doesn't even matter now, dad." Tori makes a short pause, trying to calm herself down a little. "What matters is that I need to see her."

"Oh no, Tori. You can't do that. You have to stay here."

"Are you kidding me? Why?"

"This is therapy. There's a reason why you have a room here, you know. It's for your own good, so that your leg will recover."

Her dad's reasoning doesn't impress her but Tori knows that arguing with him wouldn't bring her any closer to Jade. If anything, David Vega is the most stubborn man she knows if he wants something and right in this moment, he wants his daughter to fully recover again. With a sigh, Tori plops down on her bed. "Fine. But I really need to know how she is. Can you please make sure she's okay?"

David smiles and crouches down in front of Tori, his hand squeezing her knee. "Of course, sweetheart."

_**x.X.x**_

"_My mom and I… we weren't really close. And it wasn't her fault, it was mine." Jade swallows and looks down at her hands. "She was a great mom. But it took a while until I realized it." With furrowed eyebrows, she shakes her head. "She was never like my father. When I wanted to go to Hollywood Arts, she supported me, defended me in front of my father. They always fought so much. Mostly about me." Her eyes lift to look at Tori, one corner of her mouth pulled up in a sad smile. "I asked her if I could get a tattoo. She said 'no', of course. I mean, it's understandable, right? She's my mother and I was fourteen, _why _on earth would she allow me to get a tattoo?"_

_She laughs, a bitter sound that really shouldn't surprise Tori, but it does and the brunette bites her lip when she sees Jade's eyes getting slightly moist. It hurts her, talking about her mom, _thinking_ about her; it caused her pain and as Jade would say: really not the good kind. Tori considers telling her to stop because she really doesn't want her to see her so upset, so different from what Tori has come to know. But Jade continues before Tori can say anything. "I was so mad at her. I couldn't understand why she said no. Or… I did but I just didn't want to listen to her. So I went out and got my tattoo, plus my two piercings. I knew she was going to get mad and I didn't even want to think about how furious my dad would be. But stupid me didn't care. She just wanted to prove that she could make her own decisions." _

_It's sad really, how much you learn to appreciate someone when they're dead, Jade thinks as she lets out another laugh and shakes her head. "When I came home though… My dad wasn't there. Which actually _was_ kinda surprising because he didn't use to work as much as he does nowadays. But anyways, my mom was in the living room, bustling around, packing things into a box." Jade's eyes travel around the room as if she see the scene unfold in front of her and in a way, she does. She sees her mom hastily packing a vase into the box, a pale hand lifting to push black hair out of her face._

"_Why was she packing?" Tori asks after a while of silence. Snapping out of her memory, Jade flicks her eyes over to the brunette._

"_My parents were… they talked about getting a divorce for so long. I don't really know why they put it off for so long, they couldn't stand each other anymore." Jade shakes her head and averts her gaze, eyebrows creasing. Again there's silence when Jade seems to space out again._

"_She left you and your dad?"_

"_No," Jade laughs, "She would have never left me alone with dad. I… walked in, asked her what's going on. My heart nearly stopped as her eyes looked up at me and only then did I realize how scared I really was of her finding out about what I did… But she didn't notice. I guess she was just… too upset to really…" Jade trails off, closes her eyes for a second and shakes her head. "'Sweetie, your dad and I are getting a divorce' she said. It didn't surprise me that much. Like I said, they were talking about it for a while. I asked her why she was packing and she told me that she would move out and I could decide for myself if I wanted to go with her or stay with dad. Of course I wanted to go with her but then… then she started to go into this rant about moving away, to San Francisco or to New York and I just…"_

"_Simply put, we started fighting about that. I didn't want to move away. I was just accepted into Hollywood Arts, how could she think that I was willing to move to another city? I was starting to yell at her and somewhere in the middle of our fight… she finally really looked at me and… saw my piercings."_

_Tori swallows and shifts closer to Jade. "She got mad, didn't she?"_

"_Oh yeah. Everything got so heated and… I ran up the stairs…" Jade's voice cracks dangerously and tears trickle out of her eyes. A sob fights its way through her throat but Jade closes her eyes and takes a deep breath before she continues. "She followed me and yelled that we weren't done and just as I got upstairs and wanted to go to my room, she grabbed my arm and tried to keep me in place. I tried to… I… I tried to pull my arm away and… I pushed her. She let go of me but… she lost her balance and… fell."_

_Tori can't stop the gasp from coming out of her mouth but Jade doesn't even seem to notice. She looks straight ahead and keeps talking. "She just fell down the stairs and… laid there at the bottom. I was so… I called out but she didn't react so I ran down but…"_

"_She was dead," Tori whispers, releasing a gush of air when Jade nods. _

"_Her neck was broken." Again, she releases that bitter sound that Tori really can't stand. "You would think falling down the stairs… it's not that bad. The worst that can happen is you break a bone or two. You don't expect to never breathe again."_

"_God, I'm so sorry, Jade." Now more than ever Tori wishes that she could touch Jade, take her into her arms and just… comfort her._

"_You don't need to be sorry." Jade wipes her tears with the back of her hands and turns towards Tori with her face morphed in a frown. "It's not your fault. It's mine."_

"_No! Don't think that." Even though she can't really do anything, Tori shifts closer to the pale girl and tries to catch her eyes. "It was an accident."_

"_It was," Jade agrees and nods, "But that accident wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for me."_

_Tori's heart constricts. She could understand why Jade was blaming herself, but that doesn't mean that she agrees with her. "Accidents happen, Jade," Tori says softly and watches Jade look down to her lap, "It's _not_ your fault. Your mom would say the same thing, I'm sure of it."_

_Another lone tear slowly trickles down her cheek. Jade nibbles at her lip before releasing a shaky breath. "I hate to feel so guilty all the time."_

"_I know."_

_"I miss her."_

"_But you don't have to," Tori smiles when Jade finally looks up at her, "She's always there. She's your mom, she wouldn't just leave you alone. And don't tell me you don't believe in stuff like that because, please… why am _I_ here?"_

_And really, Jade thinks as a small smile appears on her face, maybe Tori's right._

She told her everything. She trusted her enough to talk about her mother.

And Jade hates herself for it.

Why didn't she just ignore Tori like she planned to? _Because of her stupid brown eyes, that's why._ How manipulative Tori was. How naïve_ Jade_ was. If she could, Jade would take her scissors and-

A knock disturbs her revenge fantasies and with an eye roll she shakes her head at whoever is standing on the other side of the door.

"No!"

Much to Jade's annoyance, the door opens anyways and in steps no one other than Trina Vega. "Well, aren't you a charming one," the brunette sarcastically says with a sour smile and closes the door behind her.

Jade's eyebrows crease as she watches the older Vega sister plop down on the chair next to her bed. "What are _you_ doing here?"

"Seeing how you are," she simply answers with a fake smile which quickly drops when she sees Jade's narrowed eyes. Trina sighs and rolls her eyes. "_Tori_ wanted to see how you are but since she can't really come here to see for herself, _I_ took matters into my own hands."

Trina's words were like a slap to the face to Jade. Tori wanted to see her? "Tori? That's… what?"

"Yeah, my dad actually wanted to come and see you but I told him that I wanted to go because… you know," Trina's eyes give her a slight once over before they settle back on her face, "I want to know what's the deal with you and Tori."

Ignoring the last part of Trina's sentence, Jade sits up, wincing a little. "So, why can't Tori come? What's wrong with her?"

"Nothing. She's just in the rehabilitation center and dad didn't want her to leave before she recovered. But she was worried about you because you were in an accident, which, she knew for whatever reason."

Jade's anger abruptly vanishes as if it was never there in the first place, a smile creeping to her face. "Tori wanted to see me. She was worried about me?" She asks Trina for a confirmation, the smile getting bigger.

Trina's eyes narrow. "Yeah. Does that surprise you?" Jade's smile falters a little when a feeling of guilt washes over her. "I mean," Trina continues and leans back in her chair. She swings her left leg over her right one and crosses her arms. "She talks about you like you're some kind of goddess and yet you only met each other one time." She uncrosses her arms and legs, leaning forward and scrutinizing Jade with narrowed eyes. "What is there between you and Tori?"

"What do you think there is?" Jade shoots back confidently, holding Trina's gaze.

Trina doesn't miss a beat. "I think you've met more than once. In fact, I think there's more than just friendship between you two. Which," Trina's eyes open wide as she leans back and holds her hands up, "is totally cool with me, by the way. I mean, I'm not into girls but if Tori is, then good for her."

"Well," Jade starts with a nod, "then I don't think we will have a problem with each other, will we?"

Trina stares at her for a moment, her suspicion still obvious, but then she nods and a small smirk tugs at her lips. "We won't."

_**x.X.x**_

_2 weeks later._

With a sigh, Jade trudges after Beck and adjusts the strap of her bag on her shoulder.

"Jade, are you sure you don't want me to carry your bag? It looks heavy."

Jade turns to look at her best friend walking beside her, her concerned brown eyes fixed on Jade's bag. "Cat?" She slowly calls out, shooting her a tight smile when the redhead looks up. "I'm totally fine again. You can stop babying me."

"Okay. But if you need me to-"

"Stop talking before I cut your tongue out."

Cat gasps, her eyebrows drawing down. "That's so mean!"

Jade rolls her eyes, her ears faintly taking in Beck's deep chuckle. She reaches out and takes her laptop out of Cat's hand and smiles at her in what she hoped was a friendly manner. "Don't worry. Go to your class now. I still have Beck to be my pack mule."

"Kay kay," Cat happily chirps and shoots her two friends a bright smile before taking off down the hallway. Jade sighs and watches her go with a shake of her head. "She's just trying to help." Beck's voice sounds in her ear and Jade turns around to look into the smiling face of her ex-boyfriend and friend.

"I know that."

"Then be a little nicer to her." He narrows his eyes and smiles, lifting his hand and forming a little gap between his forefinger and thumb. "Just a tiny, _little _bit."

"I _am_ being nice to her," Jade defends herself and creases her eyebrows.

Beck sighs, pries the laptop out of Jade's fingers and clamps it under his arm, throwing his other arm over Jade's shoulders as they slowly begin to walk towards their math class. "You've been a little grumpy lately. Grumpier than usual." He smiles and squeezes Jade's shoulders when he sees her roll her eyes. "Is everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine."

She has to admit, maybe she _was _in a bad mood more often lately and even though she really doesn't want to admit it, she knows it's because she misses Tori. The Vega's had visited Jade in the hospital a few times, Holly and David apologizing that they didn't tell her sooner about Tori's recovery. They gave her Tori's phone number and they called each other almost every day. But talking to Tori just isn't enough for Jade. She wants to see her, without having to hide the fact that she actually _can_ see her and strangely enough, she really wants that hug. But who knows how long Tori still has to stay in that stupid center.

After many frustrating equations and her grumbling stomach driving her insane, Jade's mood only worsened. Jade walks out of her class, not waiting for Beck. Releasing a deep breath, Jade makes her way to her locker to put her books away before she'd go to the Asphalt Café to meet up with the others.

A tap on her shoulder pulls her out of her thoughts and she's getting ready to yell at Cat – because really, who else would know to bother her in just the wrong time? – but when she turns around, her breath hitches and her lips part. "Tori?"

A bright smile lights up the brunette's face and Jade really can't stop her lips from forming one of her one. "Hey. Mind showing me around?"


	13. Chapter 13

_Tori. _

In the very far back of her mind Jade wonders how stupid she must look right now, with her mouth slightly agape and her eyes completely transfixed on the brunette girl in front of her. On _Tori_.

A million things race around in her head – _Why is she here? Shouldn't she be in the rehabilitation facility? Is she real or a ghost again? Am I hallucinating?_ – but not a single sound leaves her mouth. All she does is stare at her. At _Tori_.

"Jade?"

Tori smiles amusedly, her eyebrows raised and Jade finally snaps out of it. Releasing a quiet breath, Jade blinks and straightens up. "Tori. You're here." A quiet laugh tumbles out of Tori's mouth, Jade frowning at herself. _How original, Jade. You're such a moron._ "Why didn't you tell me you were coming here? I thought you were still-"

She abruptly stops, her mouth snapping shut and eyes narrowing a little. Tori shoots her a questioning look but her words die in her throat when Jade's hand hesitantly reaches out to her. Tori watches as it hovers in the air for a few seconds before it slowly sinks down and wraps itself around her arm. Jade gently squeezes and Tori lifts her eyes from the hand on her arm to Jade's face, a small smile on her face as she sees the concentrated look the pale girl was sporting. Jade suddenly begins to laugh, her hand keeping its hold on the other girl but her eyes lifting to look into Tori's. "Thank God. For a moment I thought I was hallucinating or… that you… that you're still…"

Tori shakes her head, smiling. "I'm not."

"You're not." Jade smiles widely and slowly pulls Tori closer to her. Looking at Tori's smiling face one more time, Jade pulls her in for a hug, brunette hair tickling her face. The distinct smell of strawberries and vanilla slowly creeps up Jade's nose and she doesn't think she ever smelled something so wonderful. Seeing her, talking to her, _touching _her. In that moment it seems that that's Jade all ever wanted to do. "So I finally get my hug," Jade hears Tori mumble quietly and lets out a chuckle before pulling away. She frowns however when she registers Tori limping as she took a step back.

"Um, so is your leg alright?"

Tori's sigh brings Jade's attention back to her face. "It is, for the most part at least." She smiles and shrugs her shoulders. "I still have a stupid limp but if I keep going to physical therapy, it will go away eventually."

Jade nods, crosses her arms and leans against Robbie's locker. "That's good. But why are you here? I mean, don't get me wrong, I'm happy that you are but… I thought you had to stay at that center thing for at least another two weeks?"

"Well yeah, that was the plan but… I managed to convince my parents to… take me home sooner. Today's my first day here and…" Tori bites her lip and hesitates for a second before smiling shyly and lifting one shoulder in a small shrug. "I wanted to see you again."

Again, Jade's lips twitch up in a smile. "I wanted to see you too."

"Yo, wicked witch!"

Andre's voice interrupts their little moment and Tori moves to stand next to Jade, both girls watching the dark-skinned boy approach. He comes to a halt in front of them, his head tilting and curious eyes flicking from Tori to Jade. "Are you coming to lunch?"

"Oh. Oh yeah, sure." Jade nods and shoots Andre a smile before turning to Tori. "You coming with us, I hope?"

"Of course. I mean, only if it's okay for Andre?" She turns to look at Jade's friend with a smile and raised eyebrows.

"Oh… no, I don't mind…" He frowns, his eyes flicking all over Tori's face. "Um sorry, I don't think we've met. How do you know my name?"

Tori's mouth fell open slightly when she realizes that, even though _she _knows him, _Andre _has no idea who she is. Her mind comes up with nothing and she ends up looking at him stupidly until Jade steps in and saves her. "I told her about you," Jade smoothly tells her friend and steps closer to Tori, her hands finding a place on the brunette's forearms. "Andre, this is Tori, a friend. It's her first day here."

Andre slowly nods, a smile masking his suspiciousness. "Okay. Welcome to Hollywood Arts then."

"Thank you."

"Yeah, okay, whatever now," Jade speaks up and lets out an impatient sigh, "Let's go now, I'm starving."

Andre and Jade begin to make their way to the Asphalt Café but Jade gets stopped by Tori, who quickly hooks her arm through Jade's. She stops abruptly, her brows creased and eyes looking down at Tori's arm. "What are you doing?"

"I need a little support," Tori innocently tells her and confusedly blinks at the pale girl.

Jade frowns a little but makes no move to get out of Tori's hold. "You know, I have a reputation to uphold."

Tori just laughs. "Oh yeah? And what kind of reputation is that?"

"Being the mean witch who's untouchable."

"Well," Tori smiles and tightens her arm around Jade's, "We'll just have to change that."

Jade just smiles and walks with Tori on her arm to the Asphalt Café, ignoring the confused looks they get as they pass the students of Hollywood Arts. With a hard glare thrown their way, they knew to mind their own business. "So, be cool," Jade murmurs quietly as they approach the gang's usual table, "Remember, you don't know them. Don't let anything slip. I don't want my friends to think you're some kind of weirdo."

Tori gives her arm a slight squeeze, smiling at Jade. "I won't. I'll see it as my first acting challenge."

"-and Mr. Purple almost fell out of the car window but I could save him just in time." Cat pushes out a long, relieved breath. "He could have died, you know?"

Beck and Robbie only nod their heads, not even seeming to have listened to a word Cat had said. Their attention switches from their lunch however, when Andre, Jade and Tori sit down at the table. "This is Tori," Jade simply says before she completely focuses on her sandwich and ignores the surprised looks Tori and her get from her friends. Tori smiles nervously as three pairs of eyes curiously stare at her.

"Hey Tori!" Cat is the first one to speak up, a bright smile on her face as she waves at Tori. "I'm Cat! Just like the animal."

"Oh, yeah. That's great. I like cats."

"What's that supposed to mean?!"

Tori's eyes widen as she takes in Cat's offended expression. "Nothing! Nothing, I was just-"

"She was just being nice, Cat," Jade mumbles around her full mouth and rolls her eyes, "Chill out."

"Oh." Cat furrows her eyebrows before a big smile lights up her face again. "Okay! Thanks, Tori."

Tori just smiles and nods her head at her, deciding it was safer if she didn't say anything else to the redhead. "Well, this is Robbie," Cat says and motions to the curly haired boy next to her, who shoots her a smile and a wave. "And this is Beck." The handsome boy runs a hand through his hair and smiles. Cat turns back to Tori. "How do you know Jade, Tori?"

"Oh. Well, um…" Tori trails off, raising her eyebrows while turning to Jade. The pale girl swallows her food before clearing her throat. "Is it so strange that I have friends you guys don't know of?" Jade narrows her eyes and looks around the table. "I don't have to give account to any of you. Tori is a friend. That's all you have to know."

"Well hopefully your new friend can do something about your sour mood," Beck mumbles into his hand, the glare he receives from his ex-girlfriend not really bothering him that much.

"Anyways, Tori," Cat pipes up with a giggle, "My brother almost ate a sock once."

_**x.X.x**_

"Jade! It's so good to see you again!"

"Yeah, you too, Mrs. Vega." Jade finds herself returning the smile Holly shoots her, who gets up from her seat at the kitchen table and walks over to where her daughter and Jade just came through the door.

"Jade drove me home. She can stay for a while, right?"

Mrs. Vega waves dismissively. "Oh, yeah of course. Make yourself at home, Jade."

Jade only manages a smile before she feels herself being dragged away from Tori's mom and up the stairs. For someone who's supposedly still a little weakened, Jade thinks, Tori's strength is remarkable. But before they reach Tori's room, they're stopped by a door opening and Trina stepping out. The older Vega's eyebrows shoot up in surprise before she stands up straight, crosses her arms and looks at her sister's friend. "Jade."

Jade gets the urge to roll her eyes at Trina's attitude but instead of doing so, she curtly nods at Tori's sister, adopting the same unimpressed expression Trina was sporting. "Trina."

"Didn't expect to see you here. Hope you're well?"

"Well, now that you are standing in front of me, how could I not be?"

Trina snorts and smirks amusedly. "Oh yeah, sure. Better save that for Tori."

Tori, who just watched the exchange between her sister and Jade curiously, slightly shakes her head and starts pulling at Jade's arm again. "So, we'll be in my room." Tori's hand is just about to push down the handle before Trina's voice catches their attention again.

"Oh, okay. But you know, please do tell…" She trails off and waits for Jade and Tori to turn around again before continuing with a smirk and a wiggle of her eyebrows. "Do I need ear plugs?"

Tori and Jade respectively release a horrified gasp and an amused laugh before disappearing into Tori's room. Right after pushing Jade into her room and slamming the door shut behind her, Tori's hands shoot up to shield her red face from the other girl. "I can't believe she said that," Tori mumbles into her palms to which Jade only let out another laugh.

"Embarrassed, are we?" With a smirk, Jade saunters over to the blushing brunette and closes her fingers around Tori's wrists, lowering her hands from her burning face. Smirking, Jade shakes her head. "You are so weird."

"Am not!"

Jade laughs, lets go of Tori's wrists and turns around. "Whatever you say, Tori." Her eyes travel around Tori's room, taking in every little detail. "So that's your room. I didn't expect anything different, to be honest."

"I really missed you."

Jade freezes, her smile slightly dropping. She raises her eyebrows and turns around to face Tori, who has her hands clasped in front of her and her lip captured between her teeth. There's a slight tint of red on her cheeks and Jade can't really tell if it's still from Trina's comment or from something different. Pushing out a breath, Jade lightly rolls her eyes. "I did too. Kinda."

"Kinda?"

"Yeah, well…" Tori smiles as Jade shrugs her shoulders and crosses her arms, averting her eyes. The youngest Vega walks closer, her hands gently coming to rest on Jade's crossed forearms. Jade's eyes flick from Tori's bed to warm brown eyes, warmth running through her entire body by just the slight touch of Tori's hands. She doesn't even register what is happening until Tori's mouth is mere inches away from her own and much to Tori's – and a little to her own – surprise, Jade moves her head back. "What are you doing?" Jade murmurs calmly, a small smile tugging at her lips when she sees Tori's confused expression.

"Um… I thought it was pretty clear that… I wanted to kiss you."

"I'm not an easy girl, you know," Jade teases and moves away completely, Tori's hands falling away, "You didn't even take me out on a date yet."

Tori's eyebrows shoot up, her head tilting in disbelief. "Are you serious?"

"Why wouldn't I be?"

Tori's lips part but when she sees Jade's smirk and the twinkle in her eyes, a smile appears on her face. "So you want me to take you on a date?" Tori takes in Jade's confirming nod before stepping closer again and placing her hands back on Jade's arms. "Can't I at least get a little motivation?"

"You have _enough_ motivation."

"Then… how about a 'welcome back to life' kiss? You wouldn't be easy. It's just the right thing to do."

Jade's smirk widens and her eyebrow rises. "Oh, is it?"

"Definitely."

Jade nods and uncrosses her arms, moving her right hand to Tori's waist while her left one cups her cheek. Tori smiles as she feels Jade's breath against her lips. "Then I guess it's okay," Jade whispers before letting their lips collide.

* * *

_A/N: The last chapter was supposed to be the ending to the story. I had it planned like this from day one but then I thought people would get mad at me if I just left them hanging like that so... I did another one. But really, feel free to take the last chapter as the ending. This chapter was just a little insight of what would happen between them now._

_So the end it is. Thanks for reading and reviewing!  
_


End file.
